


Hourglass

by FalseDevotion



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, Animation, Animation Studio, Batman - Freeform, Friendship, Growing Up, I'll keep adding tags if I think of anything else, M/M, Slow Burn, adulthood™, hahahah, idk - Freeform, or at least learning how to adult?, this one gonna be geeky, typical end of uni first contact with the real world, yup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2020-03-17 21:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 67,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18973255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalseDevotion/pseuds/FalseDevotion
Summary: “So, you’re the new Clifford.”Luke almost flinched at the voice, a guy standing right in front of his eye line. He didn’t think he knew him.“Excuse me?”“You’re the new intern.” The guy explained, as if a little exasperated.OrLuke starts interning at Hourglass Studios, doesn't know anything about Batman, and somehow still manages to snatch his own Dark Knight.





	1. Labels

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again. Hope u guys like this 🤞

Luke felt so tired he wanted to just smash his head against the desk and fall asleep for like, an eternity. Like. That was his level of tiredness, and he hadn’t even been working for a month. He wasn’t even _full Time_. Only interning in the morning shift, as a requirement to finish his Animation Degree. Worst thing was, there hadn’t been any vacancy for him to intern in his supposed field -Character Animation-. No, he was in Crowd, animating walk cycle after walk cycle, testing transitions between cycles and generally bored out of his mind. There was supposed to be another student on the department for the morning shift, but the studio had just finished their last big project and was just starting on a new one. They weren’t really in need of people helping out –even if it was for free–. So, Luke was alone. And bored.

When he arrived at the office that morning it wasn’t any different. The desk in front of him remained empty. His own desk, shared with the guy who came for the afternoon shift, only showed signs that another person had been there by the guy’s name bright and big blinking on the sign in screen.

Michael Clifford.

Luke had never seen him face to face. Never crossed him even when he stayed over lunch to finish his work. He hadn’t even seen the other dude’s work, mind him, and they were supposed to be working together towards a common goal. Or at least that was what Silex had told him his first day. And now she was keeping this Clifford’s work safe under wraps. She hadn’t even let Luke see what his allegedly teammate was working on, and Luke knew it was because she still didn’t trust him. Luke honestly couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t delusional; he knew which level he was at. Knew he still hadn’t completed enough cycles to be able to go on to test them in a simulation.

He took a seat, swinging around as he waited for the computer to finish loading his profile and opening the software. Office was still half empty, and Luke laughed to himself. People here were a bit lax with punctuality. Well, more like _way_ lax _._ It wasn’t actually _bad_ , and Luke knew they more than made up for it. Most of the people that arrived later stayed after hours, or even kept working over lunch. It was just. It was 9 o’clock in the morning and the only people in the office where the production team and the interns in every department. The whole thing was a bit depressing. Also, he was fucking tired.

He knew what was on the plate for him today, so he took out his notes and clicked on his last project, already dreading having to correct the animation again and again and again until his supervisor gave him her blessing. It was a somewhat tedious job, but it was also awesome when his character's movement's matched flawlessly between different cycles. Kind of rewarding.

Luke had to remind himself at least three times a day that even if his classmates were interning upstairs at the Character Animation department and were actually animating whole scenes, he was cementing his foundation by revising physics stuff and shit. He knew his animations maybe lacked flair, and he had a long way to go in that area. But. His physics were strong. His characters moved realistically.

As he waited for the software to finally finish opening the file, he took another look around. His supervisor had just come in, eye bags reaching the floor and a huge ass coffee cup in her hand. Luke winced. He knew she had been staying way past her supposed clock-out time working on some stuff they had asked her personally. And really. Luke would offer himself for help, but he knew she would probably refuse. And who was Luke to change her opinion.

His eyes travelled the place, hand lightly tapping along to the music from his phone, headphones still clinging to his head. The tables near him were mostly empty, but there was noise coming from the hallway, so people were probably on their way here. He sighed, sliding the keyboard closer from underneath the screen and frowned when it stuck on something on the desk. Was that… a fucking Primark label? Yup. It was. Hidden underneath the keyboard. And it was a Batman one. Shit.

Luke took a look around, cackling softly as he reached for it, trying to discern how the hell that had gotten there. Who the fuck brought clothes labels to work? It didn’t say what it was from. Only that it had cost £6. Luke wondered how it had gotten to the desk. Although it reminded him,… He had had his eye on the last batch of merch related stuff Primark had put out –had intended to actually buy some tees or pyjamas–, but then Calum got in his mind about how they afforded to sell at such low prices and Luke’s wishes went out the window. He hated Calum for that, even when he knew the older boy had a point. But it wasn’t like Luke could find merch that cheap anywhere else. Plus, their pyjamas were comfy. Luke just wanted comfy, nerdy, affordable pyjamas. So he mourned the lost opportunity to buy something.

He shook himself out of his thoughts when he heard a ping on his ear from the open Skype chat, a new message from Silex –he really sympathised with the poor woman. Who the hell named their kid Silex?–. She was asking him to attend a sweatbox meeting that morning.

 _Wut. Nope_. That couldn’t be.

Luke peered up over his screen, his eyes finding Silex two rows over, burying her face in her coffee as she faced him, her right hand giving him a thumbs up. Cool. He was fucked.

 

_What am I supposed to do at the dailies?_

He typed quickly, groaning into his keyboard when he heard Silex’s unmistakable booming laughter across the room. He didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

 

**_Just take notes and pay attention to the feedback they give on the shots. Don’t shit yourself, Hemmings. I’m not throwing you to the wolves just yet._ **

 

Well, thank _god_. Luke had never really liked showing his stuff unless he was a hundred percent sure it was a best as it could be given his level at the time. And this would have been mortifying, presenting the work he had right now. It was incomplete. It took a huge amount of courage to even show it to Silex to ask for feedback –and he was expected to do that without any shame–, he would have died for sure if he had had to go to the meeting and defend it in front of all the heads of the different departments.

 

**_Meeting’s at 10. Bring your notepad._ **

****

Luke sighed, nodding towards Silex when she peered up above her own screen to look at him, sending him what seemed to be an encouraging smile. It still left him feeling kind of wobbly. If Silex thought he was ready to attend a dailies meeting, that meant she was starting to trust him. Which was _good_ , but it also made Luke start doubting himself time and time again if he was even deserving of that trust. Even when he had wanted it for a while.

The fifty or so minutes until the meeting passed slowly, Luke’s eyes constantly shifting towards the bottom corner of his screen, clock making him nervous. He was about to get up to go to Silex’s desk when the woman herself tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump.

“Relax, Luke.” She laughed. “Watching how we review and discuss our work it’s a part of your training. You’re just going there to take notes.”

“Still makes me shit myself.” Luke mumbled, taking his headphones out and grabbing his notebook and pen. Silex let out another snort, but she also clapped him in the back, waiting for him to get up.

“You’ll get used to it.” She sighed. “Giving and receiving feedback improves your work, Luke.”

“I know, but most of the time I know what it’s wrong with my animations, just don’t have time to correct them.”

“That why you haven’t showed anything to me in two days?” She looked up to him as they started walking down the hall towards the projection room.

“Kinda.” Luke admitted under his breath.

“Well, you should. I’m supposed to supervise. Let me supervise.” She said sternly. “I know what you’re capable of Luke, you have talent. And no one’s first version of their work looks awesome, no matter which level you’re at.”

“I know that.”

“Then lose the fear.” She determined, holding the door open for him, sending him a smile.

Luke returned it mutedly before nervously stepping inside. But the place was still half empty. He chose a seat right at the back, trying to breathe as he eyed the people gathered there. He knew a couple of faces, from other departments working on their floor, and two animators who had come to give a masterclass once last year. Otherwise the room was empty. _Punctuality_.

Silex was on the other end of the room getting herself a coffee. Luke wondered what it had to feel for her to be surrounded by guys at every turn. Specially the kind who didn’t take kindly to a woman being head of a department. Although she certainly could hold her ground against anyone, and Luke knew better than anyone how good she was. It was a pity she was the only woman in a relatively high position. It saddened him.

“So, you’re the new Clifford.”

Luke almost flinched at the voice, a guy standing right in front of his eye line. He didn’t think he knew him.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re the new intern.” The guy explained, as if a little exasperated.

“Oh.” Luke nodded, slowly. The other guy’s grey eyes were studying him from above. “Yeah. My name’s Luke Hemmings, nice to meet you.” Luke tried to recover by offering him a smile and his hand, the man shaking it quickly.

“Same wise, newbie.” He said quickly before scurrying away, not even smiling back.

Silex was coming his way, though, with two coffee cups, passing him one of them. Luke squinted at her, remembering seeing her with a full coffee cup not even two hours ago, but he still took his own. Better than leave it for Silex to drink too.

“Don’t pay him any mind.” She said as she took a seat next to him, sighing as she let her head rest against the chair’s back. “Grant’s the shittiest person here. He thinks he’s better than he is.” She scoffed.

“He asked if I was the ‘ _new Clifford’._ I don’t like being called the new anything.” Luke mumbled.

“And you shouldn’t.” Silex sentenced, not even opening her eyes.

“Which department is he from?” He asked quietly, taking a sip from the coffee. It was more bitter than he was used to, but he drank it anyway.

“Layout.”

“Hm.”

They stayed quiet after that, Luke eyeing the room as it kept filling in. It was almost a quarter past ten when all seats were nearly occupied and the Director and the Head of Animation walked through the door. From then it went on quite quickly, Luke’s hand flying over his notebook as he wrote everything he deemed important, and in that moment everything sounded important to him. It was fascinating, watching everything unfold, the different departments sharing their work and the style and aesthetics of the project coming to life. After four years of studying how this shit was done, Luke was finally seeing it happening with his own eyes. How the art department showed their designs, the Director approving them; how the modellers were proposing already some characters in 3D, how the planning of their next series was actually starting to take off. It was exciting.

His hand had even started to cramp down a little for how much he was writing down. It made him happy, realising that he was not only able to follow the meeting, but that he was able to detect all possible problems that could develop from certain propositions from the different teams, how he was able to understand the insights people down the production pipeline gave the ground departments, trying to get the project to develop as smoothly as possible.

He had caught Silex’ gaze one time, the woman smiling knowingly at him as if she knew what Luke had been thinking. Well. He guessed it wasn’t difficult. He must have looked like a kid in a candy store.

Maybe she had been right, and this was what _he_ needed, to get back to his own work with his spirits high. Gender politics aside in the Studio, there, whenever talking about the work on the screen people were nothing short of respectful. Even that guy from Layout had been polite when he addressed Silex directly. Luke could feel the companionable mood hanging between all the people in the room. It was contagious.

But thinking back to the run-in with that dude earlier now had him eyeing left and right, suddenly self-conscious being there in between all these people. It wasn’t exactly like he was _needed_ here. Silex had only brought him because he was an _intern_. And there was clearly still a long fuck way to go before he belonged in between these people. Like that guy had said. He was the _newbie_. He was the _intern_. The new _Clifford_.

That was the retort that had him feeling the worst. It was already bad that people stressed on the fact that he was a _newbie_. It was worse that they were comparing Luke to this guy, made him feel awful. And it had nothing to do with this Michael dude. It was just. Luke was his own person. He wasn’t the new _anyone_.

It always went like this for him. It even happened when he started the Degree. People in class had known each other from before for the most part, and the other people who came alone weren’t exactly flocking to make friends with anyone. And Luke had just being called the new one because, no, he hadn’t done any animating before starting the Degree on Animation. He had been in secondary school; it wasn’t like he had an option for animation there.

His only saving grace had been Calum when they met just before second year. Luke could count on one hand the number of friends he had in his life, and more than half of them were away in other cities, other universities. He really had been lucky to meet Calum in the library during that awful summer, both studying and trying to pass their retakes of the subjects they had –in Luke’s case, at least– spectacularly failed. The dark-haired boy had been nothing more than a scrawny kid back then, hunched over his notes. They had got on surprisingly well, him and Luke. Now he stood broader than the blonde himself, although not as tall. Luke almost always towered over everyone around him. Even if he felt smaller than all of them.

“Hemmings?”

He almost jumped out of his seat when Silex poked his arm, looking around and finding the people already up and leaving the room.

“Shit, when did that happen.” He muttered under his breath, feeling embarrassed he had blanked out that hard. When Silex started to laugh he sank even deeper into his seat, his cheeks steadily growing red. He could feel the heat in his face.

“Come on, we have to get back to work.”

She gave him a clap on the shoulder and stood herself, shaking her head at Luke.

Luke rushed to follow her out of the room and down the hallway, again towards his cubicle, his mood somehow a mix of down and up given the experiences at the meeting. He was up one second because he had just checked that box in his head that wondered if this work would actually make him happy, he was down the next second because, as always, these people were probably too high up his own level, and only seeing the work ahead of him made him just want to quit.

The rest of the morning he spent correcting the movement of the feet in yet another walk cycle, checking that the drawing the heel made was a perfect water drop. It was monotonous. Moving the feet a bit forward, a bit backwards. Checking each frame. Playing the whole sequence in real time. Something made a jerky move. Correcting again. By lunchtime his mind had kind of reduced to just interpreting what was on screen and his hands were acting in sheer muscle memory. It was like he wasn’t even present. In fact, he was so out of it, it took his phone angrily buzzing next to his elbow to break him out of whatever spell he had fallen under. Luke hadn’t realised people had already started leaving on break.

“Sorry.” He muttered to the phone as soon as he pressed answer on the call button.

“ _Where are you? This place is packing up and our table is taken already.”_ Calum’s voice came in through the speaker.

“I’ll be out in a minute. I just lost track of time.”

Luke saved the file and started turning everything off, closing his notebook as he clutched the phone in between his shoulder and ear.

“ _Should I order now? I’m hungry._ “

“Yeah. Ask for two of whatever you’ll have. I have spare change, I’ll pay you when I’m there.” Luke answered, putting back the keyboard and suddenly letting out a chuckle. Shit, he had forgotten.

_“What’s so funny?”_

“Someone left a Batman Primark label here. I forgot about it.”

Luke picked it up and turned it around. It didn’t say which item it had belonged to. He was kind of intrigued. He slotted it at the edge of the screen and eyed it for a moment.

“ _You coming?”_

“Yeah. Yeah. On my way.” Luke answered quickly, his eyes still trained on the little piece of plastic paper. He ended the call still somewhat out of it, his eyes unfocusing, the black and yellow mixing together.

The meeting had definitely messed with his head. And he knew why, and he knew as soon as he babbled about it to Calum the older boy would just chuck him in the shoulder and shake his head, saying something about how Luke should learn to care less about what people thought. But for the blonde boy, that feat seemed impossible. He hated being labelled, and yet he was still afraid when he didn’t know what people around him thought of him. It was a delicate dance between wanting to know and hating to know. And Luke had been dancing it all his life.

He arrived as quickly as he could to the canteen. It was just his luck that the university had signed an internship program deal with Hourglass. The Studio was not even a street over from campus. It was quite convenient. The dining hall was full when he got there, but he didn't have much difficulty spotting Calum, hunched over a comic book. He knew it was more than possible that the dark-haired boy would not look up from his book even as he waited for Luke to appear. Not that Calum would usually, anyway. Even less today, when he had stowed himself away in the far corner of the hall. Luke quickened his pace, his stomach starting to grumble as soon as he caught eye of his favourite sandwich waiting for him on the table.

“I’m here.” He said as he slid in the chair, dropping his bag on the floor. “Sorry. I really lost track of time there.”

Calum just silently passed him a second sandwich and a bottle of Dr Pepper without even raising his eyes from the pages. Luke, knowing full well that until the other boy didn’t finish reading whatever it was he was reading he wouldn’t look up, started to dig in on his food. Honey mustard chicken sandwich. Good thing he and Calum had similar tastes. Otherwise he would be screwed most of the time. He took a bite, sighing when he tasted the spices coming through. Fuck, this shit was good every time. Calum closed his book in front of him and slid it to the edge of the table, eyeing Luke up and down.

“You okay?”

“What?” Luke asked, mouth half full and trying to swallow the giant bite he had just given the sandwich.

“You look… weird.” Calum continued. “You sounded weird on the phone, too.”

Luke finished swallowing slowly, hating that Calum was always so freaking good at noticing things and reading people.

“Silex took me to the dailies meeting. This one jerk–”

“Was a jerk?” Calum finished with a flat tone. Luke sighed, reaching for his soda and twisting the lid open. “You need to learn not to care, Luke.”

“Gee, tell me something I don’t know.” Luke snorted.

That had been his bane all his life. Trying not to care. But even after 22 years of trying it hadn’t really worked for him yet. It was just… impossible. He’d never learn.

“What happened?” Calum asked tentatively after a couple more seconds of silence.

“He just talked to me about being the _‘newbie’_. In fact, he called me _‘the new Clifford’_. As if I should know who the fuck that is.” Calum arched an eyebrow at him from across the table, but otherwise said nothing. “Well. I kind of do. He’s the dude I share the desk with. He comes in the afternoons. But that’s not the matter. I just hate people being…” Luke gestured wildly around him, trying to encompass everything about humanity that made him cringe. Anyone else would probably have squinted at him confusedly, but Calum obviously understood if the small hint of a smile he showed had anything to do with it.

Luke shook his head, sighing, and took another sip from his soda. He could feel his heart beating faster than just a minute ago with the memory of the moment still fresh behind his eyelids. The way the guy had just looked down at him –and not only because of the standing position–. The way he had said _‘newbie’_ , as if Luke was a plague. The blonde knew he was more than probably blowing the actual thing that had happened out of proportion, but he could do nothing about that either. It was just how his mind worked. Fixing on a little something and overthinking until it became the biggest problem ever.

“It’s just… The whole thing threw me off.”

Calum hummed, still eating his sandwich, but he appeared to be a little out of it too, now that Luke came to think about it. He had still being asleep on the sofa that morning when Luke walked out of their tiny flat, but he knew the older boy had had a meeting scheduled later in the morning with his team. By the way the other boy’s eyes were trained on the table but not really focused, it probably hadn’t gone that well. Luke wondered if Calum would even say anything about it. There were times the dark-haired boy shared and there were times he didn’t. And Luke had yet to learn to recognise when Calum would. Not even after three years of friendship, two of which they had been living together. Calum was just too unpredictable sometimes.

Luke focused on eating, enjoying the taste of his sandwich as the hall started to empty out, workers and students alike going back to work or classes. The sound of conversations around them had significantly decreased, his sandwich all but nonexistent when Calum opened his mouth again, his own sandwich almost intact.

“The designs were turned down today by Kev.”

So today was one of the days he _did_ share.

“Shit. I’m so sorry, Cal.”

“I mean, they weren’t mine, _mine_. Only minor character fixes.” The older scrunched up his nose. “And it’s not even that important. It feels more like a class project than an actual game.”

Luke took a deep breath at that. He had intended to get on that team for the development. But they had already stocked-piled friends in the available positions he could access with his then-current set of skills when he asked Calum, and there wasn’t much else he could do. Not even having Calum as one of the higher ups had helped him get on board.

Calum had been involved in that project since mid-second year. From the idea to the production stages. In fact, the original idea for the game had been his. Classic RPG, but with a modern twist in the story. Calum hadn’t really talked to him much about the actual plot after they started development. He _couldn’t_ , really, by contract. But Luke had glanced at the designs lying around their apartment. The game was an RPG, but… It was good. Luke could see it taking off.

“It is not a class project, Cal. And you know it.”

The older boy took a deep breath and let his forehead fall against the table, turning his head a little so he could look up to Luke. Calum had stayed on as part of the Design team after devising the whole narrative, yeah, but he had turned down the Executive Designer title, not wanting to take on a higher role such as so soon in his ‘professional’ career. Luke could tell he regretted having let the opportunity pass. He regretted giving it to Kevin.

“Sometimes I wish it _was_ a class project, you know?” He sighed. “That way I could just say ‘fuck it’ and be done with it. But it’s not, so…”

“So you’ll end it and it will be amazing and successful and the first of many more projects to come.” Luke ended for him. He had intended it to be encouraging, but…

“Yeah, right.” Calum scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Luke just shrugged and took another bite from his sandwich. Calum was damn right confident sometimes, but… Every once in a while he had these little moments of indecision and negativity that made Luke squint and stop to think if he really knew Calum at all. If the confident Calum he knew was just a mask. But then he shook his head and remembered everyone was allowed moments like these. Even if Calum had never been one to doubt himself since Luke had known him. Specially _because_ he hadn’t.

The dark-haired had never believed himself invincible. Luke thought he had probably never known anyone with such an acute grasp on their own potential, with their feet so firmly planted on the ground. Calum knew his limits, but… he usually played them in his favour. And yet this… _downcast_ Calum was coming out of left field for Luke and it felt so out of character for the guy he knew the older boy to be.

“What were you laughing about earlier?” Calum suddenly asked him, straightening up. His raised his eyebrows as he gulped down his coke, Luke scrunching up his nose at him. It was an obvious change of subject, but Luke entertained him.

“When?”

“On the phone. After you said you lost track of time.” Calum went on.

His eyes were studying Luke curiously, but the blonde could still glimpse Calum running away from the comment about the game. It was _that_ clear that Calum didn’t want to share anymore.

“I found this Primark label. Batman.”

“At the office?” Calum arched his eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

“Well. It is an Animation Studio. Makes sense there’re geeks with merch.” The older boy laughed.

It had to belong to this Michael Clifford. The one Luke shared the desk with. The one he had been compared to. Ever since he started the internship Luke had heard the other guy’s name quite a few times. Today wasn’t the first time he heard someone calling him the _new Clifford_ , far from it. It had only just been the first time someone said it to his face, instead of whispered it behind his back.

“I kind of want to leave a note on the desk.” Luke suddenly piped up, some inspiration coming to him.

“What?”

“About the tag?” Luke started peeling off the label from the soda, scratching at the little glue it left behind on the plastic bottle. “I wanna leave something to do with Batman.”

“Why?”

Luke shrugged, tearing off the rest of the label in one pull, glancing up to Calum with mischief in his eyes.

“It could be funny. If the lad answers.”

Calum regarded him for a moment, face completely devoid of emotion before he broke out laughing, his eyes crinkling and laughter lines deepening. Luke chuckled in return, something akin to happiness flowing through his body. If he had made Calum laugh at least that was something, given the other boy’s mood. Both of their moods.

“Please, please do it, Luke.” Calum wheezed in between laughs. “I’m in desperate need for some entertainment in my life.” He was still giggling, but Luke was able to see a flash of something behind his eyes. He didn’t comment on it. “This would be a great save. Like, imagine. One of those weird Tumblr stories of how people meet each other. The perfect way to have some laughs.”

Luke snorted, but… Yeah. He too was in need of some entertainment in his life. Plus, if it worked, if the guy even answered, Luke would get to know what type of guy this Michael Clifford was that so many people compared Luke to him. Silex had said he was a good animator, and an even better coder. Luke knew himself to be neither. But he had a feeling it was something else entirely people at the office were whispering about.

The only thing was…

“I know nothing about Batman, though.” Luke chuckled, suddenly rethinking his whole plan. He scratched off the last of the glue, the Dr Pepper label already been torn to pieces with how viciously he had being tearing at it. He didn’t dwell too much on it, though, because he  felt Calum kicking his shin beneath the table, making him jump and look back up.

“If only you knew the biggest Batman fan on Earth, right?” He said with a smug smile, his eyebrows wiggling up and down a few times and making Luke giggle.

“Shit, I momentarily forgot about your shrine.”

“Hey!” Calum exclaimed, and Luke knew it had affected him more than the black-haired boy would admit, because he was blushing. “It’s not a shrine.” He complained. Luke just giggled further.

“You know it is, but I respect it.” He smirked, and Calum huffed.

“Shut up.”

Luke let out a gleeful laugh at that. It _was_ a shrine. Calum kept it cleaner than the rest of his room. All his collectibles. All his comic books. He could deny it all he wanted. It still was what it was.

They were now the only ones remaining at the hall, except for the staff who were having their break. It was weirdly silent. But Luke was used to it. He and Calum always stayed here after lunch until the very last possible moment before parting ways. Calum usually back to the Library, Luke more often than not back to their shared flat. Lately lunch was the only time –apart from weekends– they could spend together with their mixed up schedules.

The older boy had gone back to sulking, and Luke actually felt like sleeping for eternity. But he still didn’t want to leave the place. He scrunched up his nose, thinking about what he could leave on the desk for this guy. The only things he knew about Batman were memes. Maybe he should angle it that way. If the guy knew about memes, maybe he wouldn’t be so bad to befriend.

And then an idea came to him.

“The theme song.”

“What?” Calum frowned, his mouth doing that thing he did when he was confused by something. It wasn’t a rare sight, nowadays.

Luke laughed and started humming.

“ _Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na.”_ Luke sang, and he could see the light sparking up in Calum’s dark eyes, Luke’s own mirroring his.

“Oh god, yes please.” The older said eagerly. “Please you have to. It’s perfect!”

Luke laughed. Really laughed. So loud that even the kitchen staff showed their heads around the door to see what was happening. But they knew them well enough that they kept on with their business.

“He probably won’t answer.”

“Don’t care, it’s still going to be hilarious. Please take photos when you leave the note.” Calum cackled, his right hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Do you know who he is? Have you seen him?”

Luke shook his head, scratching his chin.

“Nope. Only know his name.” Now that he thought of it, it was a little weird he had never met the guy. Luke usually stayed up to the last minute before the afternoon shift. “He’s logged in when I arrive at the office in the morning.”

“And?”

“His name is Michael Clifford.” Luke shrugged. He didn’t expect Calum to know him. Calum seldom knew anyone around him.

“Never heard of him.” The older answered. And Luke wasn’t exactly surprised.

“I mean, you do live under a cave.” Luke snorted, suddenly laughing even harder at the thoughts of Calum’s shrine. “You don’t even know half the people in your own class.”

“Not true.” Calum lurched, offended. “I know the girl I sit next to. Her name’s Alex.”

Luke hummed, still chuckling.

“And the people on the project?” He arched an eyebrow, but Calum’s eyebrows drew in even further.

“I know them _all_ , I’m _working_ with them.” He stressed, and Luke had to raise his hands in surrender.

“Okay, so you know _some_ people.”

“You’re not king of popularity yourself, you know?” Calum scoffed, and stretched to pick up his comic book from the end of the table, pushing it inside his backpack as soon as he opened it. “I have to go now if I want to snatch one of the few good seats left at the library.”

“Then I guess I’m off too.” Luke smiled.

Calum returned the smile, and the blonde knew his last jest hadn’t made any dent in their friendship. Sometimes Luke was wary of it, with Calum never mentioning if things had fallen astride between them. But more often than not, banter was the hill they lived in. Mixed with a few concerned questions about well beings that Calum –actually both– liked to dodge.

And then Calum did something that threw Luke even more out than everything else that had happened during the morning. The dark-haired boy walked up to him and hugged him close, even if it was a rather short hug, before stepping away again.

“Forget about that idiot from this morning. I’m sure if Silex invited you to dailies was because _you_ , _Luke_ , are getting good.” He said, eyes looking at some corner of the room, his cheeks heating up. Luke was touched.

“Thanks, Cal.” He whispered, laughing a bit when Calum’s eyes flitted to his for a moment.

The older boy shrugged and slung his backpack on, starting to walk to the door.

“See you at home, Luke.” He threw over his shoulder, not even turning to look at Luke to say it.

“See you!”

Calum waved his hand above his head, and then he was gone.

The ride back home in the bus was slow and boring, as it always was. Luke usually spent his time reading, but today his mind was buzzing. Not even music kept his thoughts from going back to the meeting. And the guy. And Silex. And _Michael Clifford_.

By the time he arrived home, almost an hour later due to some traffic accident on their bus route, it was safe to say he was exhausted. He contemplated a nap before dinner, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep afterwards if he did, so he forced himself to stay awake. He spent a couple hours working on his Final Year Project, some three odd scenes to add to his demo reel and a couple of character designs for his portfolio. Art had never been one of his fortes, and he had actually had to ask Calum for help multiple times. But… the portfolio was a requirement.

The dark-haired boy arrived home when the sky had already turned black, some rain clouds coming with the night. Luke had been hearing the clouds rumble above their ceiling all afternoon. Calum adored storms, especially now that they lived on the top floor and he could get to see the lightning brightening up the sky. Luke preferred to curl up in their sofa and put on some Netflix show or something. That night was no different in such aspect. Calum laid down next to the window with his head on a pillow, and Luke turned on the TV, settling to watch some odd documentary that could help him get to sleep.

What was unusual, though, was the silence hanging over them both. Normally, they would have been talking through it all. Making some jokes. Calum sliding his way up to the couch and reluctantly joining in the watch.

Not today. Calum was silently watching the sky light up behind the rain-stained glass, and Luke was still running miles around the little comment from the guy that morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this new ride with me! <3  
> Leave me a comment telling me what u thought ^^


	2. Jokers and Pranksters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one of these! Hope u enjoy! 🙃

“What the fuck?” Michael muttered when he arrived –almost late, _again_ – to work.

He had come running all the way from the parking lot, struggling to get here on time. It was raining. It had been raining for two days straight now, and his hair had plastered to his forehead from the moment he had taken his helmet off –which in hindsight had been a big mistake–. His clothes hung on him now like deadweight, his coat even darker than when it was dry, his jeans feeling like an uncomfortable second skin. And now that he finally reached his desk, some idiot was trying to pull a prank. Michael was not here for it.

There was his Batman bookmark, hanging from a slot beneath the big screen on his desk, some piece of paper stuck in front of it. Michael looked around him, but people were already focused back on their own stuff. No one seemed to be looking towards him, so he ripped out the note and the cloth. He almost broke out laughing when his eyes fell onto the words that were scrawled over the paper. He stifled it, though.

“Okay.” Michael mumbled. He hadn’t expected it to be what it was, and he had to give whoever wrote it points for that. He let out a soft laugh, shaking his head before staring at Desmond to his left. “Very funny.” Michael stated, clearly loud enough that Desmond swivelled in his chair until he was facing him, arched eyebrows making his face seem like twice the age he was. “Is this supposed to be a prank?”

The guy just took off his earphones, arching his eyebrows even more at Michael.

“What?”

“The note? Stuck to the cloth? Batman’s theme song?” Michael pressed, some laughter seeping into his voice.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mike.” Desmond said with an apologetic smile, putting on his headphones again and going back to his own work.

“Seriously?” Michael huffed.

He glanced around the room again, trying to discern who could have left the note. He wanted to laugh, he really did. It was a fun prank. Or whatever it was supposed to be. But he also didn’t want to give any of these fuckers the satisfaction of laughing, because he knew if it _was_ a prank, something else would follow. And there were some mean fellows around.

The production team weren’t ones to joke much, and he knew Silex wouldn’t have left the note either. She had been stressed enough lately with her own project to even have time to plant a prank on Michael’s desk. And he had a feeling this wouldn’t be her style of pranking. Maybe some good placed scare. Yeah. She seemed like one of those.

Maybe it had been the guys from Rigging, but… Michael didn’t remember ever talking to them, not even the other interns in that department. And there wasn’t anyone else in the room apart from those teams. The only other team on the ground floor was Layout. Michael somehow doubted Grant would be capable of it. That guy didn’t have a single funny bone in his body.

Sighing, he took out his jacket, hanging it carefully on the coat rack next to his desk so it could dry and he took a seat, turning on the computer and feeling pleasantly surprised when he saw it was only on standby. Michael thanked the morning shift guy for not turning it off, and quickly logged off the guy’s session, opening back his own.

Silex had told him as soon as he came through the door that she needed him to go through this Hemmings’ animations to see if they worked better for the simulations than Michael’s or hers. It had made him frown, to think that Silex asked him to review the other guy’s work, but, maybe she was right and the guy had seen something Michael hadn’t. Something _she_ hadn’t. It was weird to think like that, given that Silex had the better eye of any professional animator he had ever seen, but, if she had hopes on this kid, maybe she had a point.

While he waited for the program to load, he snapped a photo of the Batman label and the piece of paper and sent it to Ashton. His best friend didn’t take long to answer.

 

**_What is that_ **

 

_Remember the Batman thing I use as a bookmark? It must have fallen out of my stuff. Someone left a note attached to it_

Michael was still debating who the fuck it could have been when Ashton came through with the same question.

 

**_Who_ **

 

_Dunno_

A flash from the screen alerted him that the software had finally loaded, and he turned his attention back to it, looking at the list of cycles Silex wanted him to work through, searching for them on Hemmings partition and copying them back to his own desktop. He knew the software would take an eternity to load them, so he let his head fall onto the table, yawning.

Ashton had made him stay awake last night marathoning _Making a murderer_ , and even though he had foregone the morning class to sleep, he was still feeling it. He had a momentary thought of pity towards Ashton, who _had_ gone to class on just one hour of sleep. They had crossed each other on the courtyard, Ashton on his way to pick up the bus, Michael coming in for work. The older had looked dead tired. But then Michael remembered staying up late had been his own fault, and any pity for Ashton vanished from his mind. If Ashton was half as tired as he was, he deserved it.

A ping from his phone reminded him that he had forgotten to turn the volume off, and he hurried to do so, a laugh escaping him involuntarily as he opened the chat with Ashton. The older boy had sent him a gif of the 1960s Batman series, the very same one where that theme scrawled on the note came from. **_Answer the note, please_** was Ashton’s only commentary beneath the gif. Michael tried not to laugh again, rolling his eyes before typing out a swift reply.

_What would I even answer to that?_

**_BAT-MAAAN!_ ** _**Duh. I thought you were the DC fan, Mike**_

****

_Shut up_

Ashton stayed silent after that. Michael supposed he would have gone back to sleep, or whatever it was he had been doing prior to Michael sending the pic. He didn’t really have much time to think about Ashton, because he was already running late in his own schedule for the afternoon. This guy from the mornings, Hemmings, Michael thought his name was, had a shit ton of cycles he needed to go over before the afternoon was over. Well. Sylex hadn’t exactly said she needed them all for today, but Michael got the message anyway.

It were a couple of boring hours of him copying and opening the different files, checking the animations. Animations which actually surprised him. He would have expected having to correct way more things, but the Hemmings dude was a better animator than probably half of Michael’s own classmates. Most of them had finished their internships already, and Michael only knew of Ashton and a couple more girls from their class still waiting for their turn. In that regard, Michael had been lucky. He had started interning at Crowd at the beginning of the second semester, and even when he was only required to intern for a month to get his Masters, they had stretched the contract up to six months.

Ashton had clapped him on the back quite hard as a way of congratulating him, shouting excitedly about Michael having charmed their pants off. He had gone on to prattle about how Michael was going to have a job by the end of it while the rest of them would grow old and grey without even an offer. The younger disagreed. Ashton was rather good, when he focused. He came from 2D, which meant he had all of them beat when it came to poses and facial expressions. So it would probably be him the one getting that job offer sooner than anyone else.

Michael wished he had someone else in the department to hang out with in the afternoons. Ashton was supposed to have joined him, but he had been drafted for the morning shift, fuckers all. Michael had at least thought he would have him when the older started his month at Hourglass, but he wasn’t given even that. He was here, surrounded by morons –except for Silex, and maybe Alicia and Tris from Production–, and with no one to actually befriend. He had Desmond and John from Rigging near him, at least he wasn’t forever alone. Even if the guys never lifted their gazes from their computers and they were usually mindlessly boring, they did join Michael every day for a mid-afternoon break. It was something.

That afternoon break was shorter than he would have liked. He ate some snack from the vending machine as he listened uninterested to John and Des discussing some problems from their department. At one point one of the professors from his Masters that worked at the Studio came for a coffee, joining in on the conversation. Michael had excused himself not long after. The list of things he still had to check was fairly long, and he was still half-asleep, so he grabbed a Coke before getting back to his chair.

Almost everyone in the office was either gone to some afternoon meeting or for a coffee or smoking break. Silex was still typing away some code on her computer, and there were a couple of interns from Layout having their break on their desks. Lightning was coming in through the window panels behind Michael’s chair and he tsked, thinking about having to renounce to daylight –even if it was soft, cloudy daylight– just in order to be able to see the screen of his computer. It was one of the things he hated most about this profession. Being chained to a computer, with all that that entailed.

Michael maybe, somehow, understood whoever has left that note, right about now. One had plenty time to grow bored while they were working here. He looked around, but there wasn’t still anyone near him, so he grabbed a pen and snatched the piece of paper, opening it and scrawling ‘ _BATMAAAAN!’_. Michael laughed once he had it slotted back again beneath the screen. He would admit the thing was funny. Then he snapped a photo and sent it to Ashton, who replied almost immediately.

 

**_Yesss. Any idea whose it from yet?_ **

 

_None. Unless it’s from the guy that interns in the mornings_

That would be a thought. Although, why would that guy want to leave a note at all? They had never once met that Michael recalled. And it would just be plain weird. _Or the guy had been plain bored_ , his brain supplied.

 

**_You know him?_ **

****

_Not really. His name’s Luke Hemmings._

**_He isn’t from our class, right?_ **

****

_We’re literally about to finish the year and you don’t know our classmates’ names?_

**_Sod off_ **

 

Michael laughed lightly. Ashton was too much of an airhead sometimes, his head almost always in the clouds. He had been like that ever since they met, two years ago. Michael had been literally thrown out of his old flat, and he had just rented the best room he had been able to find near his old street. Ashton and his sudden vacating roommate had been kind of a blessing.

At first the older boy had kept going on about his life, slightly cold towards Michael, but in the end they had both warmed up to each other. More than warmed up. Michael couldn’t imagine what his life would have been if he had chosen to rent a different apartment. Couldn’t imagine what his life would look like without Ashton’s friendship, either. That they were both into Animation had been a complete and utter surprise, for good. Plus, he had been the one to convince Ashton to enrol for the Masters.

He grimaced, suddenly remembering that Ashton would start in the morning shift, and that would just fuck up their whole thing. Ashton was the one who was a good student. The one who always had good notes. The one who never missed a class. Michael had depended on that. And even if he sounded completely self-interested, Michael was going to be screwed starting the following week. He supposed that for a month and some of school remaining, he could take the mantle. Ashton would certainly thank him, and well… Michael kind of owed him. A lot.

He spent the two hours left on his shift painstakingly checking every movement of every cycle, loading them onto the simulation and playing it back and forth. Combining characters walking and running, turning around and jumping or crouching. They surprisingly transitioned without a hitch, and Michael frowned. What did these animations had that his hadn’t? Or was it just something about the software? Was that Hemmings kid a genius of some sort?

He didn’t have the time to find out, though, because when he checked the time, it was near 18:30. Which meant, he probably should have been wrapping up and showing his stuff to Silex, turning in the work for the day. So that he did. If Silex was impressed at how well the Hemmings guy’s animations integrated on their system, she didn’t show. Or perhaps she was just incapable of showing emotion due to the two dark circles beneath her eyes and the several cups of coffee Michael spied on her bin.

“Shit, Sil, how long have you been awake for?” He let out with a whistle. “That’s way too much caffeine for just one person.”

“It’s what I need at this point.” She just answered, her eyes fixed on the screen, darting here and there as she quickly took notes without even looking at the notebook. “Okay, that first batch of cycles are integrated perfectly. I’ll tell Luke tomorrow to clean up the curves of the two others he’s working on and to copy them on a folder for you.” She went on, still rapidly following the animations playing on her screen. “Good job, Michael. Keep it up.”

“Thanks.” Michael smiled.

“I mean it. I didn’t even think you’d have time for half of these today. You keep surprising me.” She scrunched up her nose, sliding her glasses upwards before turning to look at him. “Maybe next week you can move on to code with me.”

“Oh.” Michael let out. “Okay.”

“Please refrain yourself from celebrating, your enthusiasm will kill us all.” Silex said with a monotone voice, rolling her eyes.

“I _am_ excited!” Michael tried, laughing a little. He actually was, more than about what he had been in charge of as of late. He missed coding. “You just took me by surprise.”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure.” Silex waved him off.

“Fuck off.” Michael chuckled, giving her a friendly push, to which Silex started to laugh.

“You’ve grown weak since you first started here, Clifford.” She snorted. “That push barely felt like anything.”

It would have sounded more impressive if her voice hadn’t broken into a yawn right at the end of the sentence, making Michael stop laughing and actually regard her with concerned eyes.

“Maybe it barely felt like anything because you’re a zombie.” He stated, grabbing a nearby empty chair and sliding it towards her, taking a seat. “How long since you last slept more than a couple hours?”

“I don’t know, a couple of days?” She yawned again, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

“You look like a racoon.”

“So do you, we must be family.” She sparred right back. Michael threw his head back laughing at that.

Most of the people here he probably would forget about as soon as he walked through the door, but he knew he had a friend in Silex. The woman had a peculiar sense of humour that just clicked with his. At least in Michael’s eyes.

“What are you working on?” He asked, eyeing the screens. He only saw code, and he was way too tired to try to read it right now. The letters and numbers were blurring in together in Michael’s mind, and he thought maybe he should get another coffee or Coke or anything with caffeine.

“Would that I could tell you what it is, but for that I need to ask permission, Mike. You know that.” She smiled tightly at him, her hand flying to the screen and turning it off.

“Don’t worry, I’m dead on my feet. I wouldn’t be able to read anything even if you had left the screen on.” Michael yawned. He hated that each time he saw someone yawning he always felt the need to do it as well.

“Go home, then, Mike.” She put her glasses back on, glancing around. “It’s way past your shift now.”

“Only for a few minutes. And I arrived late. Just making sure I spend all my hours here.” Michael said, eyeing the place too. It was deserted now.

Rain days were always like this, people scrambling to their feet to get to their cars or the bus the earliest they could just to avoid traffic jams. Michael had the advantage of driving his motorbike. Although he wasn’t particularly thrilled to go back home under the relentless rain, getting chilled to the bone.

He got up as Silex turned the screen back on, back to work without wasting any more time. He was walking to his seat to pack his things up, but as he looked towards the only windows with the blinds opened he let his shoulders slump in defeat. It was raining again. A _lot_. He stopped himself, tsking and turning back to look at Silex.

“Yo.” Michael called out to her. Silex turned in her seat to look at him, one eyebrow raised. It made Michael crack up, shaking his head. Thank god she cracked a smile too. “You need a ride back to the city? I clearly can wait.” He gestured to the windows and her eyes widened up.

“Shit, that’s a good storm.”

“Yup.” Michael said, letting himself fall into his seat, slightly swaying from side to side.

“You came in in your motorbike, didn’t you?” Silex tone felt like a reprimand from his mother, and Michael made a protesting sound.

“It was supposed to stop raining.” He complained before adding under his breath, “I _checked_.”

“Sure.” She nodded, laughter seeping in on her tone.

“Oh, shut up.” Michael protested. He checked the time. It was already well past seven. Ashton would be wondering where he was. “Can I crash here while I wait for it to lighten up a little?”

“I need to finish this thing.” She sighed. “I don’t know how long it will take, but you’re welcome to stay if you don’t distract me.”

“You want help?” Michael offered. He hadn’t actually planned to stay extra time today –nor ever before–, but he could see how exhausted Silex was, and seeing as he couldn’t really risk the drive back while it was storming out, he thought why not? That Silex was carrying this whole project by herself was also angering him a little. Silex should have had a bigger team working for her, but… There had been cuts after the last project ended. Michael was lucky they had even taken him on. Ashton had been even luckier that they hadn’t sent him away to look for internships in other Studios.

“You can’t, Mike. But I’ll ask Chris tomorrow about you helping. God knows another brain would help a lot.” She grunted, rubbing her eyes again before looking at him. “Go home when it clears a bit, though.” She smiled, not unkindly. “I don’t really know how long will I stay.”

“Okay.” Michael nodded.

He swivelled in his chair, turning to face the windows. Lightning was still brightening up the sky from time to time, thunders making even the glass reverberate. He should maybe catch up on his assignments for class. He had been kind of neglecting them as of late. His computer was still on, and the software was already open, so why not? Plus, he had his hard drive with him.

Deciding it would be a good way to pass up the time, Michael searched for it on his backpack, grimacing when he noticed it was still damp from the rain that morning. He plugged the drive in and loaded his last scene, waiting barely even 5 minutes before it appeared before him.

After about another hour of working on his character’s facial animation –the very last thing he had to work on before cleaning up the scene–, he glanced back up. It was still raining, but the sky wasn’t as black anymore. At this point it was the best Michael could hope for, he didn’t really think it would stop completely any time soon. So he saved his project and started packing his things up, glancing up to Silex on her corner of the office. She was still furiously typing away.

“I’m off now.” He said, standing up and throwing his backpack over his shoulder. “You sure you don’t want a ride home?”

Silex just waved at him with her right hand without even turning in her chair. It was clear she was concentrated on whatever she was writing, and Michael didn’t want to distract her much.

“See you tomorrow, then.” He chuckled as he walked past her desk.

Her reply came when he was almost at the hallway.

“Be careful with that monstrosity of yours.”

It just made Michael laugh, shaking his head.

“Bye, Sil.”

When he got to the parking, there was nary a car in sight. He put his helmet on quickly and climbed on. The faster he got out, the lesser chance to be caught in a bigger storm if the sky outside went back to black.

The ride was usually quick, no longer than 15 minutes, but with the rain and the slippery pavement, it took him almost double to reach his destination. Thank god, it was just a street over from his and Ashton’s apartment and it never seemed to close. He parked outside, hurrying in towards the diner and shaking his hair as he took out the helmet. Michael caught his reflection on the metal by the doors, making him grimace. Silex was right, he looked like a racoon too. And now it was coupled with his blonde hair plastered to his forehead and his wet clothes hanging heavy on him. He was glad that Maria and Greg knew him here, otherwise, he would have probably been turned away.

He approached the counter quickly, trying not to make too much of a mess. As soon as Greg caught sight of him from the open kitchen he smiled and held up his hand. His hair was not as grey as Michael remembered, and he wondered if the old man had dyed it. He still smiled and waved back. Waiting wasn’t much of an issue here. The food was worth it. Plus, Maria always slipped extra fries on his order.

While he waited he shot a text to Ashton, asking if he wanted anything for dinner. The older boy was quick to answer, and Michael held up a laugh at him asking for a milkshake too. Soon enough Greg was walking to the counter, calling him over.

“I haven’t seen you in a week, Mike. What have you even been eating?” The man asked, amusement making wrinkles appear in his eyes.

“I _know_ how to cook, old man.” Michael frowned, but laughter was soon enough escaping him, Greg stretching over to clap him on the arm.

“You want the usual?”

“Yup. Add another menu for Ash.” He smiled. “Oh, and a milkshake.”

He watched as Greg wrote it down and passed it to one of the boys working with him at the kitchen, before the man turned back to look at him.

“Where’s Maria?”

“She went home early.” The older man made a face. “Sam’s sick.”

“Sorry.” Michael mumbled.

Greg waved him off again with a smile before going back to the kitchen. Michael took a seat right at the counter, leaving his helmet and wallet there. His eyes travelled the place. It hadn’t really change one bit in ages. He used to come eat here regularly in his childhood, back before him and his parents had moved away to the suburbs. When Michael moved out from his parents’ to be closer to college, this neighbourhood had been the perfect choice. It was centric, near enough the school and quite peaceful. It was old, though. Like this diner. Greg and Maria had taken over Maria’s family on the business, but everything had stayed as it was. The menu hadn’t changed, and Michael was oh so grateful for it. Their burgers were still the best in town in his opinion.

It didn’t take much for the food to be ready, and soon enough he was out the door again, Greg sending him home with a hug and a pat on the back. The sky had lightened up a bit, but there were still a few stray rain drops falling to Michael’s face as he made his way to his bike, taking out the safety pedal and starting to walk with it around the block. He glanced up out of habit towards the fourth floor when he reached their building. The kitchen lights were off, but there was a faint light coming from the living room’s window that told him Ashton was probably binge-watching some documentary or other.

He parked the bike in their garage, quickly putting the safe and eagerly climbing up the stairs. He was in dire need of a hot shower. Or at least dry clothes. As Michael had predicted, the muffled sounds from the TV reached his ears as soon as he opened up the front door. Ashton didn’t make any attempts to get up and get the food, though. Not that Michael expected it, anyway. The blonde boy left his helmet and the keys by the door, kicking out his boots in the entrance and starting his walk towards the sofa.

“Greg says hi.” He said as a greeting.

Ashton just hummed. He was completely absorbed by the documentary playing on the screen. This time about cute little animals. Michael shook his head and dropped the food on the coffee table next to Ashton’s open sketchbook, then turned away and paddled towards his room. He grabbed the necessary stuff from his tiny closet and bounced to the shower, hoping that the hot water would work just for once.

When he came back out to the living room, Ashton had switched channels to a 24h news station and he had taken out the food and brought over a couple of glasses of water for them.

“Profesor missed you at class today.” He said, glancing up to him as Michael took a seat on the free space next to him. “We had to turn in the blockings for the final project.”

“ _Shit_.” Michael muttered under his breath. “Fuck, that was _today_?”

“Why are you acting so surprised? I told you last night, Mike.” Ashton always tried not to sound scolding, but his tone of voice had always reminded Michael of his mother’s.

“I don’t remember that.”

Michael stretched to grab his burger and took a big bite. After the whole afternoon working, he was starving.

“Well, you’ll have to show it to him tomorrow.”

Michael hummed, his mouth still full as he watched Ashton reached for his own. The older boy looked rested, at least. Which meant he had in fact been napping while Michael had been at the studio. The studio.

“Wait. You meant Eli? We had class today with Eli?”

He had caught Ashton mid-bite, but the older boy still answered him.

“Yes.”

“Shit. _Shit_. Then I will have to show him my project _and_ explain why I was at Hourglass and not his class. I saw him on my break when I went for a coffee. I even talked to him.”

Ashton shrugged as if to say that was what Michael got for not going to class. Or at least that was how the younger chose to interpret it. Michael often turned whatever Ashton said or did in his head to have a specific meaning towards him misbehaving. He knew the older boy most of the time didn’t give that much of a shit about anything, not even his own life. And yet the lie worked in Michael’s head. Ashton s words turned to an outlet for Michael’s conscience.

They finished their dinner discussing the last episode of _Making a Murderer_ they watched the night before, the TV providing a good white noise to fill in the spaces in the conversation. Or that was that before Ashton got up and hooked up his laptop to the screen.

“You in for a film?” He asked, turning around to glance at Michael on the sofa.

“I’m quite tired, you know.” Michael laughed from where he was laying, already curled up in his side of the couch.

“You’ll like this one.” Ashton tried, and Michael just nodded, closing his eyes for a moment.

He was sure he could fall asleep just like that. After all, lights were off, and there was barely any sound besides Ashton’s fumbling with his laptop and the HDMI. There was barely any sound, until there was. And it made Michael groan gravelly.

“You’re a shithead. Really.” He mumbled, raising up a hand to rub his eyes while the beginning of _Batman Begins_ played on the big screen, Ashton sniggering next to his laptop. “Very funny, Ash.”

“I had to, sorry.” The older laughed a little louder before crawling to the sofa. Michael kicked him lightly as he passed in front of him, but there was a fond smile tugging at his lips.

“I don’t even know if it was some kind of prank.” Michael grunted, settling back into his corner of the couch.

“Why would it be a prank?” Ashton asked, taking his –by now surely melted– milkshake from the table. “I mean, it could just be a funny occurrence.”

“Yes, but these people aren’t _funny._ You’ll see on Monday when you start.” Michael scrunched up his face.

“I thought you said Silex was cool.”

“Silex _is_ cool. But I doubt it was her.” He scratched his neck. The blanket thrown over the backrest was tickling him. “It probably was the kid from the morning shift.”

“Whoever it was, it was a good joke.” Ashton laughed, but suddenly got quieter when Bruce was attacked by the swarm of bats.

“It kind of was, yeah.” Michael conceded. “How did your presentation for Eli go?”

“He said the scene was too cartoon-ish.” Ashton mumbled. “I have to start over.”

His arms were crossed as he lay in the other corner of the sofa, his feet tucked in beneath a cushion to keep them warm. Michael observed him for a few seconds, silently, as the older’s eyes followed the movement on the screen.

“They didn’t specify the style in the guidelines, did they?” Michael tried.

“No, they didn’t. But Eli doesn’t like it, so…” Ashton trailed off. “I guess I’ll just have to think of another scenario to work.”

“You want help brainstorming?” Michael offered. He had never been the best at choosing what to animate, and yet he couldn’t stand the way they all had to bent to one professor’s will just to be sure they would pass. If it was in his hand to help Ashton out he would.

“If you have the time.” Ashton smiled from his place. Michael could just barely see his face thanks to the light coming from the TV. “I think I burnt my brain just to find this one.” Ashton added with a laugh.

It made Michael break out laughing, too.

“Don’t worry, course is over in two months, and then we’ll get jobs and then our creative freedom will cease to exist. We’ll be told what to animate.”

“You can’t imagine how much I long for that day, Mike.” Ashton laughed.

“You say that now, wait until you’ve been at Hourglass for a while.” Michael snorted. “I swear I didn’t know I could get _that_ bored.”

Ashton stared at him inquisitively from his place on the sofa.

“You don’t like it?”

Silence stretched perhaps slightly too long for Michael’s next words to be believable, but they still came out of his mouth.

“Yes, of course I like it.”

Ashton got up, his no-bullshit mode suddenly on, and Michael swallowed audibly at what was about to come.

“Mike.”

He couldn’t really keep holding Ashton’s gaze. Not like this. Because Ashton knew he had lied and now, he wouldn’t let him alone until he spilled. He was overly caring like that. So Michael took a deep breath and sighed before answering.

“It’s just not… what I expected. Okay?” Michael grunted out.

“In which way?” Ashton asked, even getting up to pause the film before settling back on the couch.

“You’re going to think it’s all bullshit.” Michael whined. Ashton just arched his eyebrow further as if to say _‘try me’_ , and well, Michael did need to vent out a little. “It’s… Ugh. The work is too monotone. Too many hours spent for just the same result over and over again. I’ve never been more bored in my life. Like I don’t even know if I like what I’m doing anymore.”

Ashton sighed.

“So you lost motivation.”

“Exactly.”

The older hummed, looking down at the floor for a moment. He glanced back up to Michael and his eyes flashed with a mix of pity and worry. It made Michael move uncomfortably in his seat, but the look was gone soon enough.

“You just need to get back into it, Mike.” Ashton said earnestly. “You’ve always said you wanted to work in this.”

That made Michael smile at him. Yeah. It had kind of always been his goal. Working as an animator. In Crowd department, where he could also code.

“I know. That’s why I said it was bullshit.” He laughed a little, and Ashton smiled back at him a bit hesitant, like the younger’s words didn’t ring true enough in his ears. They didn’t in Michael’s mind, either. “Sil said she was going to ask Chris to let me in on the coding and shit. Maybe that’s what I need.”

“Maybe.” Ashton shrugged.

They held each other’s gaze for a second before they both looked away, Ashton sighing again as he got up to press play on the film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought, pls hahhaha


	3. Deal me a good hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems like this story is coming way too slowly, but I'm now getting to more exciting parts! I hope you guys enjoy this!

“Holy shit.”

_Holy shit._

Clifford had answered. Luke let out a roar of laughter at the note taped into the screen, _BAT-MAAAAAAN_ scrawled on the opposite side of the paper he had left. There was a teeny tiny bat drawn next to it. And a winky face. It made Luke crack up even more. Thank God he had arrived early that morning, otherwise he would have been raising a _lot_ of eyebrows around him with the way he was laughing. He hadn’t thought the older guy would have written back. 

Luke had taken to Instagram with Calum in a mission to find out more about Clifford, but it had been a dead end. The guy –if they had found the correct account– didn’t have any profile picture, just a weird wood carving. And it was private. So they hadn’t been able to investigate further. Calum had kept making jokes about how this was the start to a perfect rom-com, and Luke had kept shaking his head with a laugh. 

He sent Calum a pic of the answer before he could think twice about igniting the older boy’s excitement about Luke’s imaginary love life. And then he set himself to work on the cycles Silex had asked him to have ready for the next week. The woman had called him in to congratulate him as soon as Luke had walked through the doors, already a cup of coffee in her arms and the computer turned on. _Keep up the good work, Hemmings_ , she had said. And then she proceeded to show him how good his work had integrated to the system. Luke had been kind of fascinated, watching the characters move from walking to running to jumping without a single hitch, feeling something akin to pride when he registered those were all his animations. Clifford had integrated them the afternoon before. 

Silex had sent him back to his seat with a smile and a high five, and Luke felt much better than he had in _months_. The work had been monotonous and kind of boring for the time he had been in Hourglass, but the results… They were more than rewarding. He felt the energy pumping through his veins as he set to work with a motivation he hadn’t had before. 

He was so absorbed in his work that he didn’t even notice the hours passing. Sooner than he knew people around him had started turning off computers and picking their things up to go home for the weekend, and Luke just… wanted to keep going. That had _never_ happened before. Luke basked in the feeling of wanting to go on for a few moments before he saved all his progress, linking them to an email for Silex and copying them in Clifford’s folder as instructed. He felt part of a well-oiled machine and it was just the best feeling ever. He was finally seeing the fruit of his labour as part of a much bigger machine, and it was pumping him up.

When he raised his head, the guys who usually sat to his left –Desmond and… Jay? Harry? John? He couldn't remember the name of the second one– were already gone. As were the people from production. There were only a couple of people from Rigging, and, of course, Silex. Luke packed his things up, one more chuckle escaping him as his eyes fell on the paper note, wondering if he should add something else. _What would he even add, anyway?_ And it would just seem like he was flirting, when he didn't even know the guy. Just the one time was enough, he thought. It wasn’t like he was looking for anything, no matter Calum’s relentless teasing and suggestive comments. Luke didn’t even know Clifford. He could have even crossed paths with him before on campus and not know who he was. Besides, Luke had always fallen for people he knew, not people he just met, so Calum’s theory of love at first “interaction” was completely off. Yeah.

He sent a goodbye to Silex as he walked past her, the woman smiling back and waving as she wished him a good weekend. Luke wished it back with another smile, and then he was _free_ , the warm breeze hitting him in the face as soon as he got out to the sun. Shit, he felt so _good_.

Today was one of those rare days he and Calum both had the afternoon free, and they had been planning on taking full advantage of that. Plus, it was almost sunny after three straight days of clouds and storms. Luke knew Calum had stocked up the kitchen yesterday, and that there were pizzas and beer waiting for them back at the flat, plus a few good rounds on Calum's Xbox. Said boy was waiting for him by the library doors. And he was waiting for him with a _smirk_. 

“Your boy answered you." He grinned at Luke as a greeting when the younger came close enough for conversation.

Luke snorted. 

"He's not _my boy_." He laughed, shaking his head. "I don’t know him, Cal."

"Come on, he doodled you a little bat." Calum pressed on, mirth lighting up his eyes. "That has to mean _something_." 

"Yes. That he was as bored as I was when I thought of leaving a note." Luke chortled. 

"You don't draw a winky face when you're _bored_." Calum rebutted as they started their way down the front lawn of the university. Luke thanked the heavens it was the weekend already. That meant two days of not waking up at the crack of dawn to get in time to work. He was looking forward to lounging around the flat doing nothing. Well. Relatively nothing. He still had to work on his portfolio and his reel, but he was on time with his schedule. He could totally take a breather. Which meant _sleep_.

"… mate?" Calum asked, poking him in the arm. 

"What?" Luke blinked twice, looking around. Shit. They were already at the bus stop. 

"I think you need to sleep, Luke. I have been talking the whole way here." Calum rolled his eyes. 

"What about?" The younger asked as he took his phone out of his pocket, loading the bus timetabled app. 

"You seriously didn't listen?" Calum groaned, exasperated. Luke just shrugged. "Kevin had a huge fight with Isaac. I'd knock my head against the wall if it hadn't been so funny. Isaac threw the whole dossier on top of his head. Plus a few selected words." Calum snorted.

Luke knew better than to think Calum had really found that funny. He had to be tearing his hair out beneath the amused exterior. The dark-haired boy just didn't let things like these pass. Not about his work. Not about something he took as seriously as their game. Not when the bad vibes had already started with Kevin turning down designs at the beginning of the week. 

"Shit." Luke let out. "How did Kevin take _that_?"

"He's Kev. How do you think he took it?" Calum stared at him, and yeah, Luke could see the worry behind his eyes. Something bad had happened. "We don't have a Head of Character Design anymore. Isaac quit."

And there it was.

" _Fuck_."

"Fuck indeed." Calum sighed. And then he giggled, like he was remembering the scene. Luke knew that must have been funny indeed. Isaac never raised his voice. In fact, Luke could swear it was the quietest kid he had ever met. To have him losing it like that… Things must have to have been bad.

"At least one of us got out alive from that nightmare." Calum huffed, kicking a small pebble from the ground. 

"Is it _that_ bad?" Luke frowned. He had never quite seen Calum like this. He had seen him defeated, and he had seen him angry, but this kind of discouraged Calum was new. 

"Kev's just gone crazy. It's gotten to his head." The older boy shook his head. 

"Sorry." 

Calum just shrugged. 

"Anyway. I saw something _interesting_ in the pic you sent me." Calum said, and his tone meant nothing good for Luke.

"What kind of interesting?" The younger asked slowly, suspicious.

"The size of your boy." Calum just wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Luke groaned. It caused the older to break out laughing like there was no tomorrow. "The label is XL, but it doesn't say _what_ item it's from.”

“Why would you even want to _know_ that, Cal?” Luke closed his eyes, the groan still on his throat. He had a pretty good idea _why_ Calum was pursuing this particular topic. 

“Maybe some tee? Big shoulders?” Calum started, playing it to the extreme and even going so far as to be a perfect human representation of the thinking face emoji. “Or maybe pyjamas.” He continued, and Luke rolled his eyes, looking around them to the other people waiting by the bus stop, completely aware that Calum’s monologuee could be heard by anyone. “Oh. No! I got it!” And then he suddenly raised his hand, index pointing to the sky and Luke just rubbed his face, embarrassed. “ _Boxers_.” He concluded, leaning towards Luke and actually whispering that part. And then he leaned away, hands back to the straps of his back and the biggest smile on his face that Luke had ever seen. “I say the label is from boxers. It's funnier that way.” 

Luke groaned.

“He’s a _big boy_.”

“Shut up, Cal.” He grunted, feeling his cheeks starting to redden. 

“ _Wink wink_.” 

“ _Cal_.” 

Luke saw the bus pulling up in the stop before them and marched up to where he knew the bus would stop, Calum trailing behind him as he clutched his arm. 

"Let me have some fun with this, please." Calum pleaded, and even though his tone was still playful, Luke saw something deeper in his eyes. "Also, you look like you need a laugh too." 

Luke chuckled at that. He wouldn’t deny it. For as happy as he was about his work on Hourglass, it was true that it had been a long time since he last had some fun. Maybe joking around with Calum was just what he needed.

"Maybe."  He admitted grudgingly. 

They paid their fair and went to the back of the bus, to the seat they usually sat at. Luke took off his jacket and sat by the window, beating Calum to it. The younger boy shrugged, and the smirk still present on his face told Luke the younger hadn’t let the topic go. 

"You need some dick too." He whispered-shouted at him, and Luke swatted him in the arm, offended.

"Shut up, you haven't fucked anyone in _months_ either." 

"Yeah, but it's just funnier if I think about you." Calum answered, not even fazed at Luke’s reaction. "If I think about my non-existent love life, I get _sad_." 

"You get sad with yours, but you laugh at mine?"

"Exactly, you get it." The older said, and then he started laughing loudly, making Luke’s lips reluctantly turn up in a smile

"I truly don't, mate." Luke said, finally giving in to the laughter tearing up at his throat. 

The bus ride at this time on a Friday was slow, slower than usual. Both of them knew it, and Luke knew Calum had come prepared when he saw the boy taking out his sketchbook and an ink pen and started drawing random lines. Or at least what seemed like random lines to Luke. Four years of uni and he still didn’t know how to properly draw. It wasn’t his major, so he didn’t grieve much.

“Do you want to get lunch from that place down the street?” He asked Calum as the younger started shading what looked to be the silhouette of a person. 

“Okay.” Was the only answer Luke received. When Calum was drawing he didn’t talk, so Luke let him be.

He took out his headphones and started up a playlist, getting as comfy as he could in his seat, his head falling onto Calum’s shoulder and closing his eyes. If he could catch half an hour of sleep, at least it was something. He felt Calum blow air over his face, making him laugh a little. If he had been truly uncomfortable with Luke’s head on his shoulder, he would have already shaken him off, so the younger burrowed more into it, and settled for sleep. 

Calum woke him up a couple of stops before theirs, almost at the end of the bus line. Luke was feeling a bit out of it, sleep still tainting the edges of his mind as he trudged after the older down the stairs of the bus and around the corner towards their building. Lunch was a quick affair, both of them longing to be back at their flat. _Preferably out of everyday clothes_ , Luke added in his mind.

Flat was cold as hell when they got back, Luke’s mind immediately waking up from the stupor he had fallen into after lunch, his eyes zeroing on the living room’s window wide open, the curtains flying.

“I told you to close the window, Cal.” He groaned, leaving his backpack on the floor and crossing the room in three strides, sighing as he closed it.

“It wasn’t me!” The other boy shouted from his bedroom, his head peeking out of the door. “I left before you today. It can’t have been me.” He said before retreating again to his room.

“Whatever.” Luke grumbled. He picked up his backpack from the floor and walked the rest of the way to his room, passing by Calum’s and watching the boy already lounging on his bed, his phone in his hands as he scrolled down his Instagram. The older's bedroom was a mess. But Luke couldn’t say much for his own, grimacing when he opened his door. There was a mountain of plates on top of his dresser, countless mugs in his desk. He was a bit ashamed of himself for having let it get that bad, but honestly he hadn’t had much time during the past week. He wondered what his mum would think if she ever stepped into his room like it was right now. Luke would surely go deaf with the scolding that situation would bring. 

His eyes travelled down to the floor, a heap of dark clothes making the carpet beneath invisible, and he grimaced again.

“Cal, I’m putting on a load of dark clothes, you got anything?” He shouted, crouching down and beginning to gather everything in his arms.

The other boy didn’t answer, but Luke could hear him rummaging through his room, so that meant he probably was going to throw something in the wash too. Luke focused on getting everything in his arms before walking out of his room again.

“I put the detergent already.” Calum informed him when Luke came through their kitchen’s door with his arms full of clothes, having dropped a few socks on his way there. The older held open the washing machine’s door for him as Luke threw it all inside.

“You up for Dark Souls in a bit?” The black-haired boy asked, closing the door and turning on the washing machine after Luke threw in the spare socks he had picked up along the hallway.

“Let me put on my pyjamas and I’m there.”

“Cool.”

When Luke walked out again to the living room, Calum had already set up the Xbox and a couple of snacks on the table and taken a seat on the floor in front of the TV. Game was loading on the section they had been stuck on for the past three weeks, and Luke groaned. He hadn’t remembered they still had to get through Irithyll Dungeon. Playing only when they had time together meant they went slower than most, and it also meant, that when they in fact played, switching the controls back and forth every few minutes each time they died made them go even slower. And still Luke treasured these moments with Calum.

The afternoon went by easily with them trying -and failing- to get anywhere on that level, basilisks and rats chasing them and killing them. If someone were to watch them play, they would probably think they were lame, but Luke was enjoying himself, and by the smile pulling on Calum’s lips whenever he stopped biting his tongue, the younger would say he was too. They stopped playing after a few more failed attempts to get through the sewer, Calum getting up to preheat the over for their pizzas. 

Luke had taken his usual place at the couch, legs hanging over the armrest as he stared at the ceiling, unbelievably tired. That had probably been the bus nap’s fault. Now he wanted to go to sleep more than anything, but he made an effort, sitting up, just for Calum. They both needed tonight, and he knew the younger hadn’t yet finish venting about what had happened between Kevin and Isaac. It was just a matter of time before he started talking again. Other days Luke sensed the other boy didn’t want to talk, but today Calum had started telling him about the thing with Kevin without Luke even having to ask, so the younger guessed Calum really needed to talk it out. 

The moment came when they were both settled in front of the TV again with their pizzas done, some series pulled up from Netflix as background noise.

“I don’t really know what we’re going to do without a head of Character Design." Calum sighed, resting his head in his hands. "Kev is being a bitch, and we can't do anything else until we move past this. And he knows it. And he still made Isaac quit. _Isaac_."

"I've never seen him even talk out loud."

"Well, he did today." Calum chuckled mirthlessly. "It really is getting out of hand.”

“You can put up some ad for new artists on the announcements board?” Luke suggested. 

Calum just snorted. 

“Who would get on board with the project already as far ahead as it is?” The older shook his head. “How many artists do you know who would just work on someone’s previous work, without having liberty to stamp their own style on the project?”

“True.” Luke sighed. “I’d still put it up, see if someone shows up. Unless you know someone who could replace Isaac?”

“I don’t know anybody, Luke.” Calum chuckled. He was laughing, but his eyes were worried. Luke didn’t think he had seen them anything else but worried since a while ago. “But yeah, we’ll have to do that. We’re already falling behind schedule. And we can’t really get on with anything else until we have the designs and Kev approves them.”

“Someone will turn up.”

“I sure hope so.”

They ate their food in relative silence. Luke was hesitant to talk about how good his day had gone over at Hourglass knowing that Calum's hadn't gone so well, but he ended up spilling it anyway. The motivation to do better at work hadn't faded away yet, and that was something that Luke wasn't too used to. 

"So Clifford integrated your animation cycles?"

"That's what Silex said." Luke nodded. "They worked like a charm, Cal. Not a single hitch in the transitions." He added excitedly. 

"You're a genius, Luke." Calum sent him a proud smile, and the younger scrunched up his face at it. "And that Clifford guy has to be some kind of prodigy too. Integrating all those cycles in just one afternoon? Mental." 

"Oh god, I didn't think of that." Luke's eyes widened at the idea. Shit. That had to have been a _ton_ of work. And he had done it all in like four hours. "Shit. He has to be _good_." 

Luke hadn't truly given a thought to that. He had been working on those cycles for almost four weeks now. He had over 20. And Clifford had prepped them all in an afternoon. And then the notion that people at Hourglass still called him the new Clifford seemed even more alien to Luke. He had nothing on this guy. He was sure of that. And now he was even more intrigued by him. And even when he would never admit it to Calum, he was also intrigued in Clifford as a _person_.

“Should I answer him back?” He mused out loud, realising his mistake when Calum turned fully towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders. 

"Yes, _please_." The older pleaded. "I need some kind of entertainment in my life."

"Oh, shut up.” Luke rolled his eyes. "I meant just as in getting to know each other better. Maybe that would help us improve our work together." 

Calum sent him a _look_ , clearly not buying whatever Luke was trying to make himself buy too. That his interest on Clifford was only because of work.

“What would you write him?” Calum asked, getting up and gathering their plates, walking down to the kitchen with them.

“I can't very well say 'Have a good day’, can I? That would be way pathetic." Luke answered from his place, sighing before picking up everything else on the coffee table and following Calum. "It'd literally sound like I'm flirting with him, and I don't even know the guy.” Luke threw the waste in the trash, adding under his breath. "I don't want to _flirt_ with someone I don't know."

Calum looked at him from where he was washing their plates by the sink, expressions still for a moment before he rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, wishing him a good day is too much." He admitted, Luke nodding along profusely. "You'd break the magic.” He jested, and Luke just ignored that part. "Maybe you could leave him a drawing or something?”

"I can't draw for shit." Luke snorted.

"You’re an animator." 

" _3D_ animator." Luke clarified, even if he knew Calum knew exactly what he did. "I _move_ shit. I don't _draw_ shit. You know I can't better than anyone, Cal."

"True." 

A few seconds of silence went by, the only sound coming from the tap where Calum was rinsing everything. Luke glanced around the kitchen. At least they managed to keep this place livable. It wasn't squeaky clean, but it was better than both their rooms.

"He’s probably just some greasy geek." Luke offered up. 

Calum let out a roar of laughter, closing off the tap and turning to look at him. "Luke, _you_ are a greasy geek." 

"Touché."

He didn't know why, but the idea of talking to Michael sounded better each second passing. He had known about the meme, and was nice enough to answer back… Ugh, this wasn't good. Luke was already off, imagining a million things about this boy that could only fuel a potential crush, and that was never good. Crushes on people he hadn't even seen were the definition of Luke being completely pathetic. And also maybe Calum was right, and it had been too long a time since his last hook up and his brain was imagining things way too hard. 

"You could be greasy geeks together." Calum suggested.  "Nerds till the end. Fanboys forever. He could be your soulmate, you know."

Luke had been silently laughing at the others, but the last one made him snort.

"Seriously, Cal? Soulmates?" He laughed, finding it even funnier when Calum turned to look at him excited smile on his face as he nodded quickly and repeatedly. Luke kept his eyes on the older, arching his eyebrows, and Calum's own ones drew in.

"What? You're a sucker for that shit, Luke." The black-haired boy said. "We've both cried to too many rom-coms together for you to deny that to my face."

Luke whined at that. Calum was right, but only slightly.

"But that's with you, you've seen me naked,–"

"Never did, closed my eyes."

"– so with you it's different." He complained. Luke admitted he liked romance and shit, and there hadn't been much of that either in his life in the last couple of years. And he was starving. Kinda. But that didn't mean that a single, innocent interaction between two bored guys at work meant anything. That _something_ could get out of that joke with the note. Luke didn't even _know_ the guy, for fucks sake. "Anyway, just because he likes Batman and answered a stupid joke doesn't mean I'm going to like him by default. The guy's a stranger!"

Calum shrugged, sighing as he turned away again, like he couldn't take looking at Luke. Meh. Leave him be. This thing about Clifford was completely nuts. Luke felt completely nuts for even entertaining the idea of writing back another note. He was sure there would be no other way to read it than Luke flirting with the boy, and… that would just seem straight up creepy for the blonde himself if it happened the other way around. 

And yet… Luke couldn't stop thinking of how he could keep up the communication between them both without coming off as a stalker or romantically interested in the bloke. Maybe… maybe if he kept up with the Batman theme? That could be read just as an extension of the joke, right? That could be read as a totally innocent way of trying to be a little less bored at work. Yeah. Just a simple joke.

"Wait." He muttered, suddenly coming up with an idea. "WAIT." 

Calum spun around, eyebrows comically up in his intrigue for Luke's raised voice.

"What?"

"I think I got it." 

"You got _what_?"

"I need your card deck."

At that Calum scrunched up his face, clearly trying to discern _why_ Luke was asking it of him. Luke wiggled his eyebrows, trying to convince the older that it was a good idea without even saying why. If he said _why_ , Calum would probably not lend him the deck.

"See, I know what you're trying to do, Luke. But I don't trust that face you're making right now." Calum sighed, drying up his hands on the kitchen towel. "The answer's no."

"You don't even know why." Luke exclaimed indignant.

"I'm still not giving it to you." Calum sentenced. And then if that wasn't enough to make Luke pout, he added, "Buy yourself one."

"You're _mean_." The younger whined. 

"I am not. That deck cost me like 40 quid. The art is amazing." Calum tried to reason, and yeah, Luke could see why Calum wouldn't lend it to him. He had been saving up for that for a while, and as soon as IrwinArts opened up commissions, Calum had thrown himself into his ask box. Anonymously, of course. "Why do you even need a deck?"

"Joker." Luke answered with a smirk, delighted when he saw the excitement growing on Calum's face. 

"Shut up." The older whispered. 

"I know, it's perfect." Luke gushed back.

"It's even lamer than the greeting." Calum said with a clap, his eyes shining with amusement. His words made Luke frown.

"You think so?" He asked, reticent.

"Only because I know the guy will surely _bite_." The dark-haired boy laughed. "Oh god, Luke. Please let me post this somewhere. It would go viral."

Luke just groaned. "Go to hell, Cal."

But he was laughing, too. He only needed to get his hands onto a card deck now. And then his plan could go on to the next phase. 

 

 

***

 

 

Luke was carefully setting the joker card under the screen so it would stand up, just below their last notes and the batman label, still stuck on the little slot where the power button was. He had even made a little stand for the card, with some leftover cardboard from one of his assignments years past. It really was getting out of hand. 

The office had been completely empty when Luke was walking in to his desk, so when he heard someone coughing in front of him, he flipped the fuck out, sending the card flying. 

" _Fuck_! I almost had that." He whined. 

And then a giggle really close by made him look up, his balls coming up all the way to his throat. 

"Hi there." A tall bloke with blond-ish curly hair said from across him, his hands clutching a sketchbook and the strap of his bag. Luke didn't know who this guy was. Could it be… _Clifford_? Please let it not be him. Luke would die of embarrassment.

"Hi." He squeaked out. 

"Whatcha got there?" The bloke asked, cocking one eyebrow as he let go of his bag in the desk directly opposite Luke's own. 

"Nothing?" Luke muttered, his eyes wide. 

"Doesn't seem like nothing." The boy laughed, his eyes sparkling. "My name's Ash. I'm the new Crowd intern." He said extending his hand over both their screens, a brilliant smile making his whole face bright. "I think we're going to be working together." 

"Oh." Luke let out, suddenly releasing the breath he had been holding during their entire exchange. "Oh. Sorry. I'm so dense." He answered in a rush, remembering his manners. "Sorry. I'm Luke." 

He took the guy's hand, shaking it. He felt his own lips quirking up in response to the stranger's smile. It was kind of impossible not to smile back. 

"Nice to meet you, Luke." Ash continued, retreating back his hand and looking around. "I'm supposed to meet Silex?"

"Oh. She's usually here by the time I come in. She won't be long, I think." Luke babbled on, the joker card still clutched in his left hand. 

"Great." The other guy grinned. "So, what were you doing?" He asked, cocking up an eyebrow at Luke's hand. 

It made Luke let out a nervous chuckle, eyes flitting around the room as his cheeks grew red. 

"It's just a silly thing." He muttered, avoiding Ash's eyes. He didn't want to seem like a creep, and to anyone besides crazy Calum, what he was doing would seem exactly that. "I… _uh_ …" He let out another nervous laugh before glancing back up to Ash. "I found a Batman label here one day, and I was so bored out of my mind that I left a note with a… um, a joke. The guy who interns in the afternoons answered, and I was leaving another thing." 

Ash frowned at that across from him, his eyes sparkling with something Luke couldn't exactly pinpoint, before he broke out into a fit of giggles.

"That sounds fun." The curly-haired boy chuckled. "What are you leaving?" 

"A joker card…?" Luke said, laughter seeping into his voice too, being unable to stop it after hearing the other boy's continuous giggles. 

"That's hilarious, mate." Ash, and Luke smiled even bigger. 

"You think so?" He asked eagerly. "My best friend said it was the lamest thing ever. He didn't even want to lend me his deck of cards because it was a custom painted by some artist he loves on Instagram."

"Nah, I think it's funny." Ash shook his head. "Batman related and all." 

"Exactly." Luke cracked up. 

Just then Silex came through the doors, clutching her bag and her always present coffee cup in her hands, almost crashing into her desk. She left everything in a pile on top of the table and pushed up her glasses, turning around when she heard Luke's giggles. 

"Is that your laugh I'm hearing, Hemmings?" She joked, walking over their desks. "I thought you didn't laugh." She jested, and Luke's cheeks flamed up. 

"It's my fault." Ash piped in. 

Silex regarded him up and down, frowning a bit before something sparked behind her eyes. 

"Oh! You must be Ashton!" She smiled. "M–"

"Yup. That's me. Ashton." The guy cut in, shaking his head a little to Silex, who just frowned before shrugging off.

"Welcome to the team." Silex smiled kindly. "Luke here can tell you what we had planned for this week. I have a meeting now, but after that I'm all yours to pester with every single question you may have." She snorted, not so subtly side-eyeing Luke. 

"I didn't have that many questions." The blonde mumbled. 

"Well, I think I can manage until then. Thanks." Ash –or seemingly Ashton, actually, as Silex had called him– answered her. "I hope I can fit in the team." 

Silex frowned another moment with something akin to amusement in her eyes, before taking a breath and shaking her head. 

"I'll leave you two younglings here."

"Bye, Sil." Luke rolled his eyes. 

And like that she was gone. 

"Okay, we need to get your account and password from Production, but since they still haven't arrived, maybe I should show you what we're supposed to complete before the end of the week?" 

"That sounds fine." Ashton smiled again, and Luke couldn't help but smile back. 

This guy seemed nice enough, and honestly, maybe the mornings wouldn't be so boring if he had someone to joke on and off in between chores. He set the joker card carefully on his desk where he had placed the platform and looked back up to him, beckoning Ashton over. 

"Bring your chair, I can explain the pipeline and everything better if you can see how we work."

While the other boy did that, Luke turned on the screen, and he was a bit sad not to find Clifford's session opened up. Whatever. The card was planted, he had a whole week of work ahead, and finally someone else to share the load with him in the mornings. 

"Okay, I'm here." Ashton said as he plopped down next to him. "Let's do this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone reading this? O.o [author asks, making smoke signs asking for someone to comment hhahahahha]


	4. Cutie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!!! I'm back! Really sorry this took such a long amount of time, but life got crazy along the way 🙃   
> Hope you enjoy the update! Things start to escalate from here!

**_You have a surprise waiting for u at ur desk_ **

_If you’ve left something nasty, Irwin, I will personally wax you whole._

 

**_It wasn’t me ;P_ **

****

_Huh?_

 

Michael almost crashed into Silex on his way into the office, busy as he had been answering Ashton on the phone.

“Sorry, Sil.”

Silex just grunted and continued her way out of the corridor. She looked even _zombier_ than last week. Michael wondered what she had even been doing during the weekend instead of _sleeping_. Although he understood the after lunch sleepiness taking over anyone. Michael himself had spent the whole ride here –in the bus this time– sleeping with his head against the glass.

He hadn’t had the chance to see Ashton, and it was irking him. The older hadn’t gone into much detail about how his first day at the Studio had gone, and Michael was intrigued. But Ashton had just told him he was going to have lunch with the other intern just to get to know each other better, leaving him in the dust. Michael understood. It was a very Ashton-y move, wanting to make friends as soon as possible.

It left Michael unsure as to what he was referring with the text, though. But he didn’t have time to check it out, because he heard Silex calling for him from the hallway, and away he went to a meeting with her.

Chris had green-lighted Michael to help Silex on the coding and further development of their Crowd animation system, and… Michael should have felt excited at it, was a tiny bit, actually, but… it wasn’t exactly overwhelming. He used to love coding, back at his computer engineering degree before taking on the masters but… He didn’t think it was doing it for him anymore. Well. The whole Hourglass thing wasn’t doing it for him anymore.

He had spent the weekend going round and round each thought, driving himself –and poor Ashton– crazy with indecision and doubts about his future. It really had come at a bad time, because Chris allowing him to work in this probably meant they were going to offer him a permanent job when his internship run out in three months time. And Michael didn’t know what to do about it. He just knew animation didn’t exactly bring him… _joy_ , anymore.

But he still played his part, did his work for the afternoon, again wondering who this Hemmings kid was that he was nailing every single cycle with minimum corrections needed. He was using his fifteen minute break to catch a miniscule nap on top of his table when he felt Silex tapping him repeatedly on the shoulder.

“Why do you have a joker card on your desk?” She asked, grabbing a chair a nearby desk and plopping down in it.

“I have a _what_?” Michael asked, cracking open an eye.

Silex just pointed to the things stuck underneath his screen, and the younger yawned as he raised his eyes to them.

And yeah. There it was. A joker card right below his Batman label and the paper note from last week. On a little cardboard stand _. What the fuck_.

“Okay, this is starting to feel creepy.” He sighed. “Sil?” He asked slowly, his eyes fixed on the card.

“Yeah?”

“Is the kid from the mornings some kind of psycho?” Michael went on, frowning a bit as he turned to look at Silex, reticent about her answer. But then her whole face scrunched up, and she broke out laughing, even going as far as clapping on her thighs as she heaved back and forth with the force of her laughter.

“ _What?_ “She snorted. Her eyes were tearing up with all her laughter. “ _Luke Hemmings_? A _psycho_? He’s the sweetest most formal kid _ever_.” She concluded, still laughing and holding her stomach now with her right hand as her left went up to wipe a tear off her cheek.

“That doesn’t mean he’s not nuts.” Michael muttered, his eyes going back to the card.

“What was that?” Silex asked, trying to come down from her high.

“Nothing.” Michael mumbled back.

Okay. Last week he thought the note had just been a joke. Maybe someone bored out of their mind, looking for a distraction. Michael could understand _that_. But leaving a freaking joker card? Did this kid not understand what that meant in the Batman verse? Like it was starting to feel more like stalking than an innocent joke now.

“You sure he’s not… _cuckoo_?” Michael asked again, his index making the gesture as he frowned.

“Pretty much.” She snorted again, looking to the card and the notes and everything. “What’s all _that_?” She said pointing to everything stuck on the screen.

“Um… eh…” Michael started. He didn’t really know how to put it. “I left a Batman label here one day and then I found a note with that and… Well. I thought it was a prank.”

“Luke did this?” Silex asked, frowning. But it seemed more like a reflexive question. “I thought he didn’t want to make friends here.”

“What?”

“Nothing. He’s just… kind of shy.” Silex shrugged. “First time I’ve seen him openly laughing was this morning with your mate Ash.”

Michael frowned at that.

Oh.

_Oh._

Ashton’s text. The fucker had met Luke. He knew about the card. Oh wow.

“So he’s not a psycho?” Michael wondered out loud again.

“I think he’s the furthest from it.” Silex laughed. “Luke’s a sweet kid.” Michael rolled his eyes at that, and then Silex added something in a teasing voice that made him groan. “You’d _like_ him, Mike.”

“You don’t know what I _like_ , Sil. We’re not that close.” Michael snorted, his eyes shining with amusement when he saw the offended look on Silex’ face.

“I’m wounded. _Wounded._ “ She exclaimed, getting up from the seat as Michael kept giggling. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore.” She sticked up her tongue at him and Michael giggled even harder.

“Come on, you know I was joking.” He tried, but Silex was already walking away waving her hand as if to say _‘whatever’._ Michael let out a final giggle before he turned back to the desk, his eyes falling straight to the card. It was like it was taunting him.

He frowned, a slight smile pulling at his lips. If Silex vouched for him… the kid couldn’t be that unhinged, right? Plus Ashton had even gone to lunch with him. That had to mean something, and Michael trusted Ashton’s judgement almost better than he trusted his own. But it was still freaky as heck that he would leave a Joker. Like. Psychopath-freaky. Couldn’t he have just left a _‘have a nice day’_ or something if he was trying to start a conversation?

 

 

* * *

 

 

He left the Studio with his thoughts still on the guy and the card. Michael would admit it was an original way of catching someone’s attention, but it was also… creepy. He hadn’t answered to that. The jury was still out on if this guy was a complete psycho or not. He was actually impatiently bopping his feet on the floor of the bus, eager to get home and talk to Ashton. And not just because of the card. The older had been so excited to start his internship, that it was a bit strange he hadn’t said anything about it to Michael.

And there was the thing of the Studio possibly, maybe –more of a _sure thing_ , if Chris words that morning were what Michael had thought they were– offering Michael a real contract once his own internship period ended. That was terrifying to think about. Because Michael didn’t really know if he had made a mistake choosing animation. It was a tricky thing. Yeah. He loved it. Or used to love it. And he sure didn’t want to throw a whole career out for what could just be a passing demotivation. He needed to talk this out with someone.

He found that someone cooking on the kitchen by the time he arrived home. Michael’s stomach grumbled at the smell wafting up his nose, and just thinking about having to cook himself dinner made him groan out loud.

“And the lost son returns.” Ashton chuckled from the kitchen. “How was the afternoon?”

“ _Great._ “ Michael sighed, kicking out his shoes and ignoring Ashton’s grimace at the smell. _His smelt horrifically worse, so he couldn’t go being delicate._ “How was your morning, though?” Michael asked excitedly as he padded to the kitchen. “What did you think of Silex? The studio? The work?”

Ashton stopped stirring whatever mix of vegetables he had on the pan for a moment to turn to Michael with another grimace.

“It was… fun.”

“You hate it?” Michael asked warily.

“It’s not exactly _hate_.” Ashton said, and it made Michael exhale relieved.

“Great, because I need to rant to you, and if it had been a good day, I wouldn’t want to fuck it up.” He let out in a single breath, hoping Ashton wouldn’t get weird.

The older boy turned off the stove and turned to look at Michael, resting against the counter with a worried look on his eyes, despite the smile pulling at his lips.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t a good day.” Ashton chuckled. “But your thing sounds more urgent. Spill.”

Michael nodded frantically, taking a deep breath and letting himself fall on one of the chairs, rubbing his face a little before he looked back up to Ashton, wincing.

“Chris practically offered me a permanent job after I graduate.”

“ _What?”_

Ashton’s reaction was almost too comical, his elbow catching the pan handle and it rattling over the stove, the older hurrying to stop it before he ended up without dinner. Michael couldn’t contain the snort that came up his throat even with the strange feeling that had taken hold of his chest weighing him down.

“He offered you a job?”

“He might as well.” Michael huffed.

“So he _didn’t_ offer you a job?” Ashton arched an eyebrow at him, and Michael knew just then that the older had to have been watching Queer Eye again because he had the kitchen cloth over his shoulder, his arms crossed. He almost looked like a cheap Antoni Porowski cosplay. Michael was tempted to tease him about it, but Ashton’s little impatient shake of the head made him finish spilling what _had_ happened.

“I went to a meeting this morning with him and Silex. And we discussed preproduction for _yet another_ new series. It’s about this bu–”

Ashton cut him off by placing his hand on top of his mouth, his eyes alarmed.

“You’re not supposed to tell me this stuff.” Ashton he said intently as he kept his hand on Michael’s mouth. And being the kid that he was, Michael just licked his palm, sniggering even before Ashton took his hand away with an annoyed expression and a retching sound. Michael rolled his eyes at him.

“You’re working there already. Now I can rant about it and not compromise my NDA.”

“But it was a _meeting_ , Mike. Maybe no one’s supposed to know about that yet.” He hissed. And Michael would have just laughed if it wasn’t for the mumbled words that left Ashton’s mouth next. “Especially _not_ the new intern.”

“Well. You’re my _best friend._ And I know you’re not going to say shit, Ash. You’re too well behaved for that.”

Ashton stepped back towards the counter again, sighing as he rubbed his face. Michael waited patiently, wondering what the older’s comment about being the new intern meant. Ashton had said it hadn’t been that bad a day, though.

“Tell me about the meeting.” His tone was defeated, but Michael could still hear the fondness coming through.

“They were talking long plan, how to develop our system for it. Chris was speaking to me as if I would be there working after my internship ends.” Michael sighed, sliding on the chair so he was facing the table and letting his head fall onto it.

“That’s not a job offer.” Ashton shrugged out of the corner of Michael’s eye. “At least not yet.”

“He put me in charge of coding a subpart of the whole Crowd code for the new series. Said he’d talk to the university to renegotiate my contract so they could pay me.” Michael groaned.

“Okay, then maybe yes, it is.” Ashton snorted, leaning forward and pinching Michael’s arm. “You should’ve started with the money thing.”

Michael groaned and knocked his head against the table a couple of times. He knew he was lucky to have been offered a contract right off the masters. Not everyone was. And yet he couldn’t help but feel like his future was being caged in, that they were cutting his metaphorical wings and that he would be chained to that awful chair on Hourglass his whole life. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he still hadn’t found his motivation again. That he was beginning to resent the work he was in charge of at the studio. That the repetitive process made him want to throw himself out the window instead of keeping him interested and focused as it had not even a year ago. Michael didn’t know.

“I don’t know what to do, Ash.” He murmured against the table, turning his head so he could get a look at the older boy who had just sat at the table across from him.

“You still hating it?” Ashton bit his lip.

“I don’t know if it’s _hatred_ , but it’s definitely not _like_.” Michael chuckled, trying to look for a bright side to this. He really didn’t know what was happening to him.

Ashton was tapping his fingers on the table. His eyes always seemed smaller behind the glasses he only wore at home. It used to make Michael cackle, the thickness of them, but right now not even a friendly jab at Ashton seemed to be worth the effort.

“I thought you loved animation.” Ashton tried, getting up and serving what he had been cooking in two plates.

Michael had to love him. There wasn’t nearly enough food to satisfy them both, and stir-fry wasn’t exactly _his_ go to dinner, but he didn’t have it in him to get up and cook, so he silently thanked Ashton was such a kind guy. Michael had really won the lottery when he decided to move in the spare room.

“So did I.” Michael whispered, taking the plate Ashton offered him, getting up and fishing cold leftovers and putting them up in the microwave. His very unhealthy offer to an Ashton that was still eyeing him from the table where he had sat down again. “You know what?” Michael said, closing the door to the fridge and turning around to Ashton. “I noticed the other day that it’s been like half a year since I last binged watch an anime. I have abandoned ongoing mangas too.”

“Who _are_ you and what have you done with Michael?” Ashton mockingly gasped, his hand flying to his chest in an over dramatic gesture.

“Shut up.”

“No, clichés put aside.” Ashton laughed a little, quickly sobering up as a worried expression took hold of his features. “Are you okay, man?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, Ash.” Michael sighed again. He was doing a lot of sighing today. “It’s weird. Almost like, now that I have the possibility of working on animation within the reach of my hand, I stop liking it.”

Ashton hummed, taking a bite of his vegetables, munching and swallowing before he answered properly. “It’s not late for a career change if that’s what you want.”

Michael snorted at that, shaking his head.

“What? You’re fucking 23, don’t be dramatic.” Ashton huffed. “You can do whatever you want, unlike some of us.”

“Don’t act like you’re the elderly, you’re just a year older than me.” Michael laughed. But then his smile disappeared, thoughts drifting to Ashton’s suggestion.

Michael could start over, yes. It was a possibility. The only problem was that Michael had worked his whole life towards animation. He didn’t have any other dreams. Fuck. _He didn’t have any dreams._ That was fucking sad. He was 23 and had no dreams, no goals. He had reached his longest running goal and instead of being happy he just was... uninterested.

“Where’s your head at?” Ashton asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

Michael had been staring at his plate with his eyes wide after the sudden realisation that his goals had just... disappeared.

“I wouldn’t know what to do outside animation.” He finally said.

“I’m sure you have something you like to do...?” Ashton tried.

Michael heard it like Ashton was on the other side of the apartment, far, far away. It was like his ears had ceased to transmit properly to his brain. Did he have any hobbies? Something he could pursue? Something he would like to work on? Because he had always gone for animation. That had been _the_ destination. Michael hadn’t really allowed himself to explore other options. Shit.

“I have nothing, Ash. I’m _fucked_.”

“No, you’re not.” Ashton insisted. “Just… I don’t know, keep on working and meanwhile you can do a little soul searching? I can help you.” The older offered, and Michael finally tore his eyes off of the plate, glancing up to meet Ashton’s concerned gaze.

“What… if I don’t find anything?” Michael asked hesitantly. It was scary to think. Scary to see his entire life mapping out in front of him and not see himself working in something that definitely didn’t bring him happiness.

“I’m sure you will.” Ashton huffed, rolling his eyes. His voice still had a twinge of worry, and Michael felt touched even when Ashton was clearly trying to put a distance between what he felt and the reality of it.

Michael took a page out of the older’s book and quickly changed the topic even when his sad arse future still loomed over his head. “How was _your_ day?”

The older let out a snort and his eyebrows arched amused like he was asking Michael a ‘ _Really, you want to talk about my day at Hourglass?’_. Michael just shrugged. Anything was good to get his thoughts to focus on something else, even if it hit close to home.

“I arrived there, and I found this kid putting up the Joker card on your desk, Silex wasn’t even in yet.” Ashton chuckled.

“Oh shit, that’s true. You went to lunch with my crazy stalker.”

“Luke’s definitely _not_ a crazy stalker.” Ashton giggled, shaking his head at Michael. “He’s admittedly a little weird, but he seems nice.”

“You think that of everybody.” Michael snorted, finally digging into the food. He had to admit the stir fry wasn’t half bad.

“I do _not_.” Ashton whined.

“Yeah, you _do_.” Michael mumbled through his food, ignoring Ashton’s disgusted face at him speaking with his mouth full. “I’m literally the case point.”

“Well, you got me there. I should have never rented you the spare room.” Ashton joked, making Michael scoff, but both of them knew it was just Ashton trying to cover up the fond. “But truly, Luke’s a good guy.” Ashton insisted. And then he eyed Michael weirdly before adding, “You should _meet_ him.”

“Nope.” Michael shook his head vehemently. He hadn’t known what the look meant until Ashton talked, but oh if he knew it _now_. Ashton had tried hooking him up too many times not to recognise that tone of voice. “I’m not interested.”

“But I didn’t even say anything!” Ashton snorted, incredulously.

“Your tone implied it.”

“Shut up.” The older whined. “He’s _your type,_ Mike.”

Michael just sent him a fulminating look, and that was that, it seemed, because Ashton leaned back on his chair with his metaphorical tail between his legs as he went back to eating his dinner. Maybe he was right, and this _Luke_ was a good guy, maybe he _was_ right and this Luke was Michael’s type. But Michael also knew, that Ashton’s suggestion that he meet Luke had not only come as a friendly way to express worry about him and his –non-existent– sentimental life, but also as a way to take Michael’s mind off of the topic at hand, which was his disillusionment with his whole fucking future. And no amount of fun or romance or whatever Ashton was proposing would help with that.

Besides, Ashton wasn’t one to talk about relationships. He got squeamish about them, wielding his own choice of not having a partner and neither looking for one like a shield to protect him from getting too close to anyone. Michael respected his choice, hadn’t even suggested they go out partying to meet people after Ashton told him about it, and yet the younger couldn’t feel but worry about him too. Ashton didn’t believe in love, and that was just sad from Michael’s point of view.

They were both fucked, in different ways. But Michael could still try to be a best friend anyway. Step one, take an interest in his mate’s life.

“So how did your first day go?”

Ashton finished swallowing some water before letting out in a sigh, “Walking cycles.”

“Should’ve known.” Michael scrunched up his face.

“Luke explained to me the pipeline you guys work with, too.” Ashton continued, now rolling one sad asparagus on his otherwise now empty plate. “I’m excited about trying Golaem, though. That seems like fun.” He smiled as he looked up to Michael, but it didn’t exactly reach his eyes.

“It is kinda fun, actually.” Michael conceded. “I guess Silex will have you play around with behaviours for a crowd of people or something.”

“That’s what Luke said.” Ashton nodded. “He has this hilariously funny simulation that people go running whenever they come in contact with someone dressed exactly the same as them.” Ashton snorted.

“Shit, that has some hard work on programming.” Michael muttered, amazed. “Especially since clothes are randomly assigned to the people in the crowd.”

Ashton just nodded in front of him, the smile never truly leaving his face now. “Kid’s kind of a genius.”

Michael just hummed at it, still impressed.

They finished their dinner in relative silence after that, Michael only asking a couple more things about Ashton’s day before the conversation ran out for good. His thoughts were still drifting back to the previous topic, and he didn’t know why, Ashton seemed kind of loopy too. Whatever. Maybe this whole thing was just a momentary freak out on Michael’s part at facing adulthood so directly and out of nowhere. Well. Not _nowhere_. He had known he would have to once he finished his master’s and started looking for a job. But he had never thought he would land one even before he finished.

He offered to clean the kitchen and Ashton sent him a grateful smile before he headed off to take a shower. His eyes had a weird twinge since their earlier talk that hadn’t really gone away. Michael wondered what it was about.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Ashton thought he was running late, but as he crossed the doors and saw the office still more than half empty, he slowed down, taking a breath. He had come running all the way from the car park. His phone hadn’t properly charged during the night –damned cable kept disconnecting and fucking him up–, and he had had to come with Michael on his monstrosity of a bike, both presumably late. Or at least he was sure Michael was, to class. Ashton didn’t see neither Luke nor Silex, so he walked down to his desk and turned on the computer, hoping to have it on and running before they got there so he could tell a little white lie about having gotten there with plenty of time to spare. He absolutely dreaded arriving late.

It took another five minutes for him to catch sight of Luke across the window in front of their desks, the tall blonde walking down from the bus stop with a dark-haired friend. Well. They seemed friends until the slightly shorter guy drew Luke in a hug, laughing brightly about something the blonde said before sprinting up the stairs to the library. Ashton wondered if he was Luke’s boyfriend. That would throw his whole _‘introducing Michael to Luke because they probably would make a great couple’_ plan off.

It wasn’t really a plan, but from the week he had known Luke, he could tell him and Michael would both get on _extremely_ well. Luke had a... nerdish vibe that Ashton knew Michael would fall for if the height and the dimples didn’t manage it. Plus he _was_ funny. Like legit funny. Michael had acknowledged that, with the notes and card. Even if he had insisted through the week on Luke being probably just a stalker.

“Morning, Ash.” Said boy said, grinning as he took a seat in front of Ashton, quickly turning on his computer. “I’m so happy I’m not all alone here anymore. Like, I can actually talk to another human being.” Luke chuckled, smiling goofily. Definitely Michael’s go-to guy. That he was so sweet was a plus. Enough to sweeten Michael’s sourest of moods, Ashton was sure. He really needed them both to happen.

“Happy to be here.” Ashton grinned back, his smile getting bigger when he saw Luke’s eyes twinkling.

His eyes fell like usual to Luke’s hands, which were playing with the joker card as a weird expression took hold of his face. Ashton had watched his second day here as Luke arrived all excited and how his face fell at not finding any note. The older had tried nudging Michael into answering it, but he hadn’t really succeeded. Since then, Ashton had watched every morning of the week as the blonde took the card and turned it around, searching for an answer that clearly wasn’t there.

He sighed, turning his attention back to his screen, but his eyes caught some movement on the other side of the window behind their desks, and he frowned.

Luke’s most probably boyfriend was looking through it like a lost puppy, trying to get the younger’s attention, apparently.  He looked quite distressed, which was the reason why Ashton decided to point it out to the younger.

“Um,... Luke?” Ashton said, the blonde glancing up at him as he took out his notebook and pencil case from his backpack. “I think that cutie over there is trying to get your attention. He looks anxious.”

“Uh... what...?” Luke frowned, and Ashton pointed towards the window where black-haired boy was waving like a madman. “Oh shit.” And then he turned around and sighed. “Can you cover for me? Tell Sil I’m in the bathroom or something.”

Ashton nodded and Luke left in a dash towards the hallway. It didn’t take too long for Ashton to see him arrive at the place the other boy was at with a worried expression on his face. They were talking quickly, the dark-haired gesturing wildly and something that looked like tears shining in his eyes. None of them were falling, though. Ashton frowned, but Luke seemed like he was managing to calm him down, the other boy letting out deep breaths as he surreptitiously cleaned his face with his sleeve.

“That looks like something private, don’t you think?” Silex said right next to his ear, and Ashton had to catch himself on the desk because he nearly fell off his chair.

“Shit, you scared me half to death.” He hissed out, feeling his heart beating loudly on his chest as he turned to look at Silex, who was just smirking down at him.

“You shouldn’t curse.” She clicked her tongue, and then she surprised Ashton even more by grabbing a nearby chair and seating right next to him. “What do you think they’re fighting about?” She asked like it was a secret.

Ashton didn’t exactly know what was going on, Silex being here. And he was supposed to cover for Luke, but… “I don’t think it’s a fight. His boyfriend just came round looking very upset.”

“Luke has a boyfriend?” Silex snorted. “I thought he was single.”

“Well, I don’t know exactly. I just assumed.” Ashton confessed, biting his lip. “They arrived together this morning. Seem pretty close.” Ashton shrugged.

Luke had sat the other boy down, was looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds, checking the time on his watch next. He clearly didn’t want to leave the guy alone, but wasn’t enjoying being out of the office.

Silex and him watched as the boy grabbed Luke’s arm, said something to him and wiped a couple of stray tears away before shushing Luke off. Luke was hanging on, but after another shush from the boy he walked away.

“Okay, time for us to pretend we weren’t gossiping.” Silex sighed. “But do tell me if you find out what that was about. I’m intrigued.”

Ashton giggled at it, shaking his head.

“Will do, miss.”

“You’re _funny_. I understand why Mike vouched for you.” She grinned, ruffling Ashton’s hair like she was some kind of big sister and making him wince. He now understood why Michael liked hanging out with her so much. She seemed… not as uptight as their teachers had seemed throughout the year.

When Luke came back in he had an unreadable expression on, his eyebrows furrowed as he went straight to his seat. Ashton was frankly scared to ask what it had all been about, but his curiosity won over.

“Everything okay?” He piped in hesitantly.

“Uh?” Luke glanced up, seemingly startled. “Oh. Yeah.” He nodded, a small smile stretching his lips. “Thanks for asking.”

Ashton nodded, his eyes flitting to the window again where the boy had sat down with his back to the bench, what looked like a sketchbook thrown carelessly over his legs. He wasn’t touching it or drawing though. Just staring at it. Ashton was still intrigued.

“Your boyfriend okay too?” He asked, nodding towards the window when Luke looked at him.

“My what?” He snorted before following Ashton’s gaze, bursting out laughing even harder at it, turning to look at Ashton with tears in his eyes.  “ _Calum_? You thought he was my _boyfriend_?” He said wheezing. He had caught the attention of half the office now. “Yuck. He’s my stupid arse best friend.” He chuckled, and Ashton nodded, his eyes glancing to the black-haired boy for a moment before crossing with Luke’s again. He sent him a smile and returned to his work on the computer, until, “Wait. You called him _cutie_ before. You interested?” Luke asked, curiously.

“Not particularly.” Ashton shrugged. He was more interested in what the episode before had been about than the guy who caused it. Although, this topic gave him an upper hand in knowing if he could actually set Michael up with Luke. He wasn’t dating the dark-haired boy, so…. “You dating anyone, Luke?”

The blonde in front of him opened his eyes wide as he let out a chuckle, “Are you hitting on me?”

Ashton felt horrified. “God, no.” Luke’s face contorted in a frown, clearly offended. “Oh shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” He hurried to explain. “I swear, it was just conversational. No intention of hitting on you. Not that you’re not nice or anything, I just–” Ashton clicked his tongue, trying to find the right words to express himself and his –in Michael’s opinion really stupid– choice even when Luke was practically still a stranger. It would take him off Ashton’s back, though. “I’m more of a... _single_ guy?” He tried slowly. “I do best by myself, I think.” Luke’s mouth formed an _Oh_ shape, but no sound escaped him and he was quickly nodding, something akin to understanding flashing in his eyes. Ashton smiled at him, a chuckle coming up his throat before he added, “And, even if I wasn’t like that you’re not exactly… my type? No offense.”

“Non-taken.” Luke cackled. Shaking his head as he laughed some more, the frown quickly gone from his face after Ashton’s short speech. “You’re not _my_ type either.” The blonde chimed in with a laugh after a couple of awkward seconds. “And I’m not.”

Ashton frowned. “Not _what_?”

“Not taken. I’m single pringle.”

“Ready to mingle?”

Luke snorted. “If it comes my way, yes.”

“Oh. Okay.” Ashton nodded, amused at the whole conversation. “Interesting to know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luke broke out into laughter again, shaking his head like he didn’t have a clue what Ashton was hinting at. Better that way. Better if he didn’t know.

“Nothing.” Ashton shook his head with a giggle. “Nothing at all.”  

He grinned at Luke until the younger started laughing again, both of them drawing the attention of the otherwise silent office. Their coworkers seemed like zombies this time of the morning, and Ashton suddenly understood why Luke was happy he was there. It must have been depressing not having anyone to talk to in between cycles. Maybe that was part of what Michael needed, something to take his mind away from the work a little. To make it... not so _boring_. Speaking of Michael, if Ashton was to plot this meeting between him and Luke, he needed to know more about the blonde.

“By the way.” He asked promptly. “Do you have insta or something?”

The way Luke beamed at him should have been illegal. _How did this kid not have anyone who talked to him at the office before?_

“Yeah.” He nodded enthusiastically. Luke waited for him to pull up the app on his phone before adding, “It’s HemmingsL96.”

“Cool.” Ashton grinned back, pressing follow as soon as the icon came into view. The profile photo was from Luke, dressed in some Captain America onesie from what appeared to be Primark, and it made Ashton grin even more. Under it was just what looked like a lyric from some group and Luke’s age, followed by a ton of what seemed to be random emojis. “Nice profile.”

“Shut up.” Luke snorted. “You’re... _AshFI4977_?” Ashton nodded, biting his lip and waiting for the usual comment on his Instagram after he accepted Luke’s follow request. “Oh _wow_ , not even a single pic of your face.” And there it was. “I’m disappointed, mate. How do you even sell yourself?” Luke chuckled, shaking his head again.

“Prefer the single life I guess.” Ashton shrugged. “Besides, I don’t think Instagram’s the best place to look for dates. A bit fake, innit?” He giggled.

“Touché.”

“I only post my art even if it’s my personal account.” Ashton he explained further, carefully studying Luke’s reaction. Michael had told him it was real weird to find a profile these days that didn’t have a face attached to it. Ashton acknowledged it might be weird, but he just didn’t really like having his face on the internet, and certainly not associated with his work. Even if this one was his private account, and he only gave it to a few selected people. “I rarely even upload stories.” He added, putting all the weird shit on the table.

“No way.” Luke laughed incredulously, glancing between his phone and Ashton.

Ashton shrugged again.

“If this is your personal account, I wonder how your _not-personal_ account looks like. I want to see.” Luke jested.

Ashton didn’t take it to mind, so he just answered with a smile, “Username is _IrwinArts_? I don’t expect you’ll have heard of it. But I do commissions sometimes.”

Luke eyed him weirdly for a second there before he exclaimed, “Oh, I’ve heard about you! Your character designs are _dope_.” He gushed excitedly, and Ashton felt himself smiling at his enthusiasm, even if Luke’s reaction did seem a little forced. He was a nice kid, he decided. A _really_ nice kid.

“I think I like you, Hemmings.” He said instead of that, though, laughing a little.

“Same, Irwin.”

 

* * *

 

 

“You know Ashton fucking Irwin?”

“What?” Luke frowned, his heart suddenly twice its resting rate at Calum’s scream.

The older boy had come running from the door, knocking himself against the back of their couch and panting like he had run up the stairs. He certainly had the flushed cheeks to go with Luke’s theory.

“He follows _you_ on Instagram.” Calum said accusingly. “What the hell, Luke? You know I love his art.”

Luke let out a small chuckle because, Calum like this, fanboying, was something he had never had the pleasure to witness. And it was way too precious to let it go to waste. So he smirked as he finally answered him tauntingly.

“I didn’t know until today Ashton was _your_ Irw–”

“He’s not _my_ anything.” Calum cut in, his cheeks blushing.

“Okay.” Luke shrugged, laughing a little at Calum’s irritated expression. But he was starting to feel pity. After all, he knew Calum had had a pretty lousy day do far, so Luke let go of his laughter and answered seriously. “He didn’t introduce himself with his full name, Cal. I only discovered it today because we were exchanging usernames.”

He observed as Calum gave him a curt nod, seemingly taking his answer. It was weird of him to let it go that fast, though. And then the reason why clicked in Luke’s brain, and he narrowed his eyes at his best friend. The little shit. He gave up, because if not Luke would realise...

“Wait... I’m not following _IrwinArts_ and his profile I do follow is private.” He squinted his eyes suspiciously. “How the hell do you know he follows me, Cal?”

And then Calum’s cheeks grew awfully red, a great task to accomplish given his naturally brown skin. Seeing Calum this flustered and,... _guilty_ looking was a new experience for Luke.

“Calum?” He nudged him on the shoulder, the older boy biting his lip before he answered.

“I... may have...” Calum stopped himself, coughing a little before adding quickly in a really small voice, “... stalked his artist friends accounts once?”

“ _What?”_ Luke snorted, jumping up from the couch as his eyes widened at Calum’s words. “Oh my god _, Cal._ “

“I ended up finding his private account.” The dark-haired boy added, his shoulders slumping as he let all his weight drop against the backrest, elbows on the top, hands covering his whole face.

The fact that Calum had not only stalked Ashton’s account enough to find his private one, but that he had to have been checking that pretty regularly to know when he started following Luke was fucking crazy. Luke didn’t know if he should be proud of Calum’s investigative skills or to be afraid of the extent of his obsessions. If Ashton was only an artist he admired, and he got _that_ far, Luke wondered how far he would get trying to find information on anyone he _liked_. It was wild.

“It’s like I don’t _know_ you.” He said incredulously, laughing when Calum groaned at his words. “No, seriously.” Luke pressed. “I’m kind of amazed and kind of... scared?”

“Shut up.” Calum grunted.

It only made Luke laugh harder. Calum’s blush furthered again as he groaned at Luke’s laughter, but then he was rubbing his face before taking a deep breath and looking back to Luke. He seemed hesitant somehow, his hands gripping the top of the couch.

“Introduce us.” He muttered.

“What?” Luke’s eyes widened. Okay. He was having way more surprises today than he was ready for. What would Calum even want with Ashton? “I’m not doing that. I _like_ Ashton. And he seems to like me. I need _friends_ , Cal.”

That just made Calum groan again. Luke glanced down to find he was still clutching the top of the sofa.

“I _am_ your friend, Luke.”

“No offense, but I just found out you’re a stalker. I don’t think I know you at all.” Luke snickered.

“Shut up, you idiot.”

Luke chuckled good-naturedly.

“I’m _joking_.”

“Oh, really?” Calum rolled his eyes. “Anyway. Please, Luke.” He unclutched the sofa, his hands grabbing Luke’s shoulders and squeezing. “Introduce us. Not for me –or my insane stalking tendencies, which we will never again talk about–, but for the game.” Calum pleaded. And Luke could see the disaster from that morning, the rest of the design team having quit after their leader did, was still very much present in Calum’s eyes. In fact, they were still quite red-rimmed, like he had been crying just before he came into the flat. Luke wondered if he ought to ask again how Calum was dealing with that, but the boy’s next words stopped him. “Luke, you _know_ I wouldn’t ask if half the team hadn’t quit today. We need people for Character Design, Irwin’s one of the best.” Calum stopped for a breather, biting his lip as he sized Luke up. “I didn’t even know he studied here.” He added in a low voice. “He would be fucking perfect, Luke. If I get Irwin on board…” He trailed off, and…

Luke just couldn’t really say no to him, could he? He had never once seen Calum cry before. That was why, when Ashton pointed him out to Luke that morning, when he saw just how distressed Calum looked, he had gone out running. Calum wasn’t one to wear his heart on his sleeve, so the tears had alerted Luke that something had gone seriously wrong. And even though Calum tried to deny how much it had affected him, Luke had seen it. Calum still denied how much he cared for the game, denied how much it was affecting him to lose the team of people he had started the project with just because Kevin was a thick-headed bastard. So Luke gave in.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for leaving this like, three months without updating 😔 Tell me something if you enjoyed it! <3


	5. Why so serious?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm back, and it's been less time than I thought this would take. And... I had quite a bit of fun writing it. I just love when everything starts to get into motion! Hope you enjoy it :)

“Morning Ash.” Luke yawned as he stepped around the older, taking off his jacket and hanging it carelessly over his chair.

“You look tired.” Ashton said as a greeting, and it was such an acute grasp of the reality of how Luke was feeling that it made him let out an exhausted chuckle, plopping himself on his chair and resting his face on the table.

“Calum kept me up last night watching _The Haunting of Hill House_.” He grumbled.

“Nice.” Ashton grinned at him.

“Not _nice_.” Luke shook his head. “He couldn’t sleep afterwards so we kept watching episode after episode until we finished them.”

That just made Ashton giggle, and it was such a joyous sound that Luke couldn’t help his own lips turning up.

“By the way, would you be up for lunch today?” Luke asked suddenly, remembering his promise to Calum. He had laid down the proposition to Ashton, but with a weekend in the middle, the older had been quite busy.

“I brought lunch with me, but I can definitely join you.” Ashton answered with a smile.

“And Calum.”

“And _Calum_.”

Something about his tone made Luke frown. It read like Ashton wasn’t quite sure of wanting to meet him, or maybe he wasn’t sure about joining the game crew.

“You don’t have to, you know.” Luke hurried to add. Ashton had proved to be quite a good friend, Luke’s mornings no longer sucking. Each day passing he could see their friendship growing, and even though Luke loved Calum, having another friend to talk to was honestly making his life a lot better. And if he was making Ashton feel pressured into accepting this, Luke would never be able to cope with it. “Calum just wants the game not to flop before it’s even finished.”

“I don’t mind meeting with him.” Ashton reassured him, but that wasn’t an all out _‘Yes, I’ll join the project.’_ Luke wasn’t going to press more on that, though. Whatever happened, would happen. He at least would have fulfilled his promise to Calum about introducing him to Ashton.

He hadn’t told the older about how Calum absolutely adored his art, though. The dark-haired boy had gone red in the face whenever Luke reminded him of his stalking tendencies. Sue Luke for having a bit of a laugh about it, reminding Calum every single chance he got, enjoying how the previously always composed Calum dissolved into a nervous mess at the mention of his fanboy status. Luke just hoped Calum would be able to handle actually meeting Ashton and not go red faced or start stuttering when Luke finally introduced them face to face.

He shot a quick text to Calum warning him about lunch, but the older only replied with a very curt _ok._ Maybe he was busy. Luke knew he had a class that morning, and later on he would be having yet another meeting with Kevin about the game. Maybe that was why he had kept Luke up the whole night for, to keep his mind occupied and not fall into thoughts about their project sinking.

Sinking like Luke’s hopes had sunk after a whole week and a half had passed with Clifford not answering to his card. He still picked it up every day, turned it around on his hands as he searched for an answer, but it was never there. Ashton eyed him weirdly from behind his screen each time, but he never said anything, so Luke didn’t bring it up. Instead, he focused on working through the last set of cycles Silex had asked of him, delivering them quicker each time and finding himself growing more confident in his abilities as time passed.

All of that confidence went down the drain when Silex called on him for a meeting, Ashton remaining behind on his desk. She hadn’t exactly said anything that would justify Luke feeling as nervous as he was, and yet he couldn’t help but revive some memories as she led him to the dailies meeting room, holding the door open for him. There wouldn’t be anyone else there, Luke knew, yet his brain was still trying to fuck him up with the memory of the guy from Layout and him comparing Luke to Clifford.

“Okay, Hemmings.” Silex said as soon as she sat down on a chair, seemingly not even noticing Luke’s sudden change of mood.

She was wearing her hair down today, but the eyebags seemed to have shrunk since last week. Luke hoped she was getting enough sleep.

“What are we doing here?” He asked hesitantly as he took a seat himself, opening his notebook on a new page and taking out the cap of his pen.

“We are–” Silex started, picking some folders from the table and sliding them to Luke. “–giving you a new assignment.”

“A _what_.” Luke couldn’t help the way his voice went up, his eyes nervously flitting between the folder and Silex’s face.

“I believe it’s time you moved on from animating cycles, and since you don’t have a deeper knowledge on coding, I talked with Lily up in Character Animation to design kind of a mixed assignment for you.” Silex smiled excitedly at him, but… That only worsened the way Luke’s heart had started to beat like it wanted to get out of his chest.

He swallowed difficultly before he reached up to the folder and opened it. There were the new designs for the crowd characters of the new series, piled up with reference sheets for their range of expression within each emotion. How they should smile, cry, shout, get angry.

“There are a few scenes where background animation is needed for these. And since people upstairs are quite busy with the current project, we thought maybe we could get a head-start.” Silex continued, flipping through the pages Luke had before him and pointing out to him a couple of pages of a storyboard.

Luke could do nothing but stare at them, vision swimming a bit as he started to feel the huge responsibility that had just fallen on his shoulders.

“I kind of need you to speak, Luke.” Silex joked, but Luke knew she was serious, as her tone had some traces of worry on it.

“I, um…” He trailed off, his eyes glancing up to meet hers. “You sure you want to give this to _me_?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She frowned, leaning backwards a bit as she adjusted her glasses.

“I’m just an intern.”

“And a good animator.”

“With no experience.”

“That’s what I’m trying to give you, you idiot.” Silex laughed, squeezing his shoulder as she fixed him with a serious gaze. “I know you can do this, Luke. I’m just offering you the opportunity.”

Luke swallowed again, eyeing the dossier in front of him. It was more than just an opportunity. If it went okay, he knew he would definitely have a chance for a job after he finished the degree. If it went bad, it could be catastrophic…

But something in him was itching to get his hands on the new rigs, to play with them, test his abilities, to _deliver_ a good animation. He wanted to prove himself worthy of Silex’s faith in him, wanted to make her proud even if he had just known her for little over a month. And… he sure as heck wanted the studio to see what he was capable of. Even if at the moment he was still shaken by the suddenness of the offer and the huge responsibility attached to it.

“I… Okay.” He nodded, despite his heart rate still being twice over its normal speed. He glanced up again to find Silex’s encouraging smile, her hands clapping his shoulder as she nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

“Expected nothing less of you.” Silex grinned at him. “Shall we go over the details?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“He should be just over there.” Luke threw over his shoulder as he carried his tray to where he usually found Calum with his nose buried in a comic book.

Today he was nowhere to be found though.

“Are you sure he’s coming?” Ashton giggled behind him.

“Yeah, he needs this meeting more than anything right now.” Luke said, worrying his lip as he reached their usual table.

“Why was that again?”

Ashton had already stepped around him to take a seat, opening up his backpack and taking out a Tupperware with some kind of salad inside.

“Their Lead Designer quit last week, and the rest of the team quit after him in solidarity.” Luke sighed, eyeing the sandwich he had gotten for himself distrustfully. They hadn’t had his usual, and he had had to go for a Club which didn’t look exactly _fresh._ “Remember when I had to run out on Monday?”

Ashton hummed, swallowing the food he had on his mouth before he frowned at Luke. “That was what _that_ was about?”

“Yeah.” Luke nodded, finally taking a bite out of the sandwich. It wasn’t… _bad_. “Calum really loves this game, and to lose half the team just…”

“Fucked him up? He looked like shit.” Ashton said.

“The guy they put in charge is an arsehole.”

“You’re selling it quite well to me.” Ashton snorted, covering his mouth after and making Luke laugh.

“I’m just telling you all the details.” He raised his hands. “Don’t want you to suddenly hate me later if Calum convinces you and you have to find out after meeting _Kevin_.”

“Who’s meeting Kev?” Calum cut in just then, plopping himself down next to Luke and leaving his own tray on the table.

“Possibly _me_ , if I get to know more about this game Luke’s been telling me you manage.” Ashton giggled, honest to god _giggled_. Luke squinted at him, but there was another thing that was monopolising his attention. Calum had grabbed his knee and was squeezing so hard it was starting to _hurt_. Luke side eyed him, but Calum was staring at Ashton with his mouth hanging slightly open and a barely there rose tint to his cheeks. Although that last part Luke was sure it was only noticeable for him, who had spent countless hours with Calum to know when he was feeling _flustered_.

He elbowed Calum in the ribs, hoping to get him out of whatever fanboyish trance was leaving him speechless.

“Oh. Right. The game.” Calum coughed, grabbing his soda, opening it and taking a couple big gulps. “Well, I’m… um, Calum Hood, first of all. I’m head of the Game Design team.” He said as he offered Ashton his hand over the table.

Ashton laughed at it but shook it, nonetheless. “So Luke says.” He smiled. “Ashton Irwin.”

“Nice to meet you.” Calum squeaked.

Luke wanted to knock his head over the table several times. Calum had promised him he wouldn’t make Luke regret him introducing Ashton, but he was kind of already beginning to.

“Okay, tell me more about this project.” Ashton said, taking a bite out of his salad as he fixed his eyes on Calum.

“What?” Calum forced out. “Just like that?”

“Well, I kind of need to know about it before I decide, don’t I?”

“Um, yeah. ‘Course. Right.” The dark-haired mumbled, his hand squeezing Luke’s knee one more time before he reached for his bag, taking out a dossier and setting his face on what Luke had come to call _game_ mode. “Well, it started as an idea for this contest two-and-a-half years ago and…”

Luke felt bad for tuning Calum out, but he had heard the story a thousand times before and he kind of had committed it to memory by now. So he let his eyes wander around the hall as he kept eating, Calum’s speech fading to background noise as Luke observed the other students eating and laughing, a couple of professors along with people he knew from Hourglass –that stupid moron _Grant_ from Layout among them– seated at the corner near the entrance. He wondered if Michael Clifford would be among them as well. Or around.

It had been fun while it lasted, the leaving notes, the guy’s answer, Luke coming up with leaving the card, but… Clifford hadn’t answered to the card and Luke couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at it. It wasn’t like he had been expecting, like, a grandiose answer. He would have done with some acknowledgment. But it seemed like the other guy either hadn’t cared enough to leave an answer or had just simply didn’t notice Luke’s efforts. _He had built up a cardboard stand for the card, for fucks sake._ He could at least have gotten like a ‘hahaha’ or something. Whatever.

It had only been a means for Luke not to be so entirely bored at Hourglass, but now Ashton was there too. Admittedly, they only talked when they first came in in the mornings and later when they took a break, but it was making all the difference in the world for Luke. Ashton was a nice chap and laughed along to Luke’s hideous puns even throwing in some of his own bad jokes. Luke just hoped Calum didn’t scare him away today, because if Ashton stopped being friendly with him, his days would grow back to being awfully _dull_.

He sighed, leaving the sandwich’s package on the table as he focused his attention back to his friend. Calum’s entire demeanour had changed from when he first arrived, though. He was addressing Ashton now like this was a business meeting with a potential new partner. Which kind of was. It was astonishing to watch the 180° shift he had from a frigging heap of nerves to calm and collected Calum, selling his game so easily that Ashton was nodding and had even taken out his notebook, writing down stuff as Calum went along. The countless meetings and pitches in game conventions had helped Calum, Luke thought. Ashton seemed quite interested if his facial expressions were anything to go by, and Luke thanked that at least something appeared to be going alright for his best friend. Things seemed to be looking up for them both.

Silex’s proposition that morning still sounded strange to Luke’s ears. He hadn’t told anyone yet. Not his mum, nor his brothers. He supposed he would tell Calum when they arrived home, given that the meeting with Ashton went okay and the older accepted the position of Lead Character Designer. If he didn’t, Luke didn’t really want to put Calum on the spot and expect him to smile and be excited while inside he was still feeling like shit. A victory for a victory.

Besides, maybe Luke had accepted the task way too eagerly and without thinking enough about the monumental amount of work he would have to meddle through during his last two months at Hourglass. And the dailies he would inevitably _have_ to attend. And submitting stuff for feedback, with how much he _abhorred_ it. And Silex _knew_ all of that. Perhaps she had thought this would be like a shock treatment. Making Luke face all his fears in a neat bundle of dailies and team meetings to help him overcome them. Yup. That was probably it.

“... and that’s more or less everything I can tell you about it before you sign the NDA.” Calum concluded.

Luke glanced between both of his friends, Calum now gone back to slightly nervous, his leg bouncing but otherwise keeping up with the calm façade in front of Ashton. The latter had a thoughtful expression, eyes fixed on the paper in front of him.

It were a few tense seconds before Ashton spoke up. “So I would have to continue down the line set by the previous team, with no help –because there’s no one left in the department– and having no stylistic freedom?”

“If you put it like that, it sounds horrible.” Calum whined.

It did, it _really_ did. It wasn’t the best of propositions, Luke knew, but god did he hoped Ashton would accept, anyway. Calum needed a win and maybe having him on the project would lead to all of them hanging out. It had been ages since Luke had a friend group. He _needed_ that. Furthermore, from what he had known from Ashton’s lips, he thought the older and Calum wouldn’t have a problem getting on. More like, they would find way too many similar interests. _If_ Calum didn’t act like a crazy person around Ashton, that was. Which.

“Look, we’re desperate, Irwin.” The black-haired boy pressed. And then he admitted in a quiet tone, “ _I_ am desperate.”

Ashton nodded, crossing his arms and leaning away, biting his lower lip. At least Calum had been honest, even if it made him appear to be too eager. If someone ever asked Luke later about it, he would deny it, but he had all possible fingers crossed, even his toes. He really, _really_ hoped Ashton said yes. Calum needed some good news.

“But it’s not only _that_.” Ashton laughed, his eyebrows shooting up. “It’s the fact that the previous team quit because their Leader was driven away by an egotistical arsehole who’s now in charge of, correct me if I’m wrong, **_your_** game, Hood.”

“Well. Yeah.” Calum nodded.

Luke closed his eyes, sighing. Ashton had pretty much summarised everything that was wrong with the proposition, and from his tone of voice Luke wasn’t sure if this was leading up to a rejection of the offer –or more accurately Calum’s _plea_ –, but by the statements he had made, it pretty much seemed so. Calum at least, seemed to think so too. Luke saw it in the way his shoulders slouched, all energy leaving him as he sighed.

“I knew it was impossible to sell. Thanks for your attention though.” He muttered, not even looking up to Ashton on the other side of the table. “And for agreeing to at least listen to me ramble about it.” He laughed softly.

It wasn’t an exactly cheerful sound, and it made Luke’s heart go out to him. He had never seen Calum quite like this. Never so... _defeated._

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”

Luke whipped his head to his right, his eyes wide as saucers as he watched Ashton, who was smiling.

“What?” He prompted, eyes wide.

He heard Calum squeak from his left, prompting Luke to look at him, then back to Ashton.

“But you just listed all the reasons why any sane person would just say _no_.” Calum muttered, confused, eyeing Ashton.

“You’ll actually do it?” Luke piped in eagerly, nearly disbelieving. It prompted a laugh out of Ashton.

“I was just giving my future _boss_ an account of all the reasons why anyone would refuse –as he said– just so he knows he _owes_ me big time.” Ashton said, and then smiled. “Count me in, Hood.”

He extended his hand over the table again, Luke watching amused as Calum shook it. The black-haired boy’s expression still hadn’t really caught on to what was happening or _why_ they were shaking hands. It was like Calum’s brain had short-circuited. Luke tried to hold in his chuckles, but he really couldn’t, not when Calum was holding onto Ashton’s hand with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as saucers. Luke’s eyes crossed with Ashton’s, and then the older started laughing again. As always, Luke felt the corner of his lips tugging up in a smile, Ashton’s laughter so contagious that soon enough he had joined him, both of them still giggling while Calum stayed still. It took him just a little bit more time to react, suddenly retracting his hand from Ashton’s and eyeing them both like they were getting on his nerves. He was slightly blushing before he finally broke into a smile, shaking his head.

“Come on, Cal. This deserves more than just that smile. Tell me you’re not relieved right now.” Luke jested, elbowing him in the ribs and making Calum glare at him for a moment before he started chuckling.

“I’m so relieved I’m about to fall asleep face first into the table.” He muttered under his breath.

“That wouldn’t make a really good impression on me, now would it, boss?” Ashton cracked up, and Luke silently offered his fist for the older to bump.

“ _Shut up_.” Calum groaned, rubbing his face. He was smiling when he took his hands away, though. “Thank you for this, Irwin. Truly. You just saved my ass.”

“It’s an interesting project, I’m glad I could get in on the crew.” Ashton shrugged.

“And I’m glad this meeting didn’t go to shit.” Luke piped in. “Now, who else wants coffee? My treat.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Hey.” Calum elbowed Luke as they watched Ashton walk away from the bus.

It turned out they lived relatively close to each other, the older having stepped down from the bus only just a couple of stops before theirs. Calum’s eyes stayed on him until the bus turned right and Ashton was out of view.

“ _Luke_.” He hissed intently, trying to get the blonde’s attention, who had just gone back to his phone as soon as he said goodbye to Ashton.

“ _What_.”

“You didn’t tell me he was _cute_.”

Calum hated the way his voice wavered at the end of the sentence, something like butterflies floating around in his chest as he remembered the way Ashton’s dimples had deepened as he giggled during lunch. It was a wonder he had gone on through the entire presentation when Ashton had had his _whole_ undivided attention on him.

“Who?” Luke turned to him, confused, blocking his phone and pocketing it again as he pressed the button for the next stop.

“Irwin.” Calum said.

“Oh.” Luke eyed him, still for a second, until he “ _Oh_.” He widened his eyes, seemingly having caught what Calum was implying. And sue him. Ashton was cute, and funny. And he seemed nice.

But then Luke bit his lip, his eyes filling in with sadness as the bus came to a stop. 

“What?” Calum demanded. He didn’t like that look one bit.

Luke got up and towards the exit then, turning his back on him as Calum followed him out, frowning. The bus had already closed its doors and gone away when Luke finally answered him.

“You liked him?” He asked tentatively, that look still present in his eyes.

“Well, yeah.” Calum shrugged, trying not to let it show just how _much_ he had liked Ashton. “I don’t know. He’s cute and nice. And I know what he’s into thanks to his art.” He added, but by Luke’s eyes he knew he hadn’t managed to mask his excitement behind his _reasoning_. So Calum just came out and asked what he really wanted to ask. There was no point in hiding it now. “You know if he’s seeing anybody?”

“He’s not.” Luke said. “But he said he wasn’t looking either.” He added slowly, regarding Calum like it was hard to get the words out. “ _‘I do best on my own’_ , I think were his exact words.”

“Oh.” Calum exhaled. He hadn’t expected that. “Okay.”

Luke sent him a sad smile. Calum just shrugged, letting out a small laugh and started walking, gripping the strap of his bag. He was certainly tired, and the nerves leading up to lunch had left him quite in a state. He couldn’t wait to get home and just lounge in bed for a while before supper.

Calum heard the younger starting to walk just a couple of seconds after, Luke soon catching up to him. Calum knew his answer hadn’t sounded exactly right, and that Luke was probably worrying about it too much. After all, Calum admitted it wasn’t an everyday occurrence when he spoke freely of what was going on through his head, much less telling Luke about a _crush_.

Shit. No. Ashton wasn’t a crush. Calum barely even knew him. He couldn’t be crushing on the guy. Although. He had had a bit of a crush on his art. But that was that. He was a fan of the artist. Not the guy. He had just _met_ the guy.

“He did call you ‘cutie’ the other day, though.” Luke suddenly piped in, pensive. It made Calum stop still on his tracks.

“Why would you even _tell_ me that?” He whined, shaking his head in disbelief at Luke.

“What? What’s wrong with that?” Luke said, frowning. “I was just relaying he found you cute too.”

Calum groaned, rubbing his face. “Yeah, Luke. But you said he didn’t want anything with anyone.” He scrunched up his face before sighing, his shoulders slumping. “Now I’m going to be emo for like, two weeks knowing it’s a dead-end street.”

“Well, it’s better than you pining away after someone for months. Really, I just saved you some trouble.” Luke pointed out, and even though Calum kind of wanted to smack him in the head, he was a bit right about that. “Besides… if you’re to work together, maybe it’s best this way, Cal.” Luke added.

He was making very good points, and it irked Calum. It was best this way, Luke was right.

“You’re right.” He repeated out loud.

Luke sent him another slightly sad smile. “Sorry.”

And Calum just shrugged again and started walking. He was even more eager now to get to the flat. Rejection, even when it hadn’t been from Ashton himself and neither had Calum harboured the crush for long, was like another thing weighing down on his chest. But, it was best _that_ way. Calum now knew he would get nothing out of going down that lane, and he could focus on the game. Although he would have gladly welcomed a distraction. Things had been awful for the past two weeks –if he was honest, it had been more than two weeks–, and he felt like he needed a break from it all. Too bad there weren’t any breaks to be had because it wasn’t a proper job. And he was in charge. _And_ he didn’t want Kevin to spoil it all, not after all the work they had already put into it. Not now.

Luke had followed him down the street, a few steps behind just until he arrived to the door. The younger caught up with him as Calum fished his keys and let them both inside, trudging up the stairs. The elevator had been broken for a week, another thing to make his days a bit more sad. Luke was unusually quiet as they got to the flat, leaving his things by the living room table and just... standing there, gaze lost.

Calum wondered what that was about. But Luke wasn’t talking right now, and Calum would very much like to be out of his clothes and into some comfy ones, so he sighed and went to change. He was only putting on his sweatpants when he heard Luke’s hesitant knock on the frame of his door.

“Come in.” Calum called, jumping on his bed and sitting up against the headboard.

“Your shrine looks tidier.” Luke said offhandedly.

Calum just glared at him.

Luke was still standing on the doorway, his hand grabbing the frame as his eyes glanced around Calum’s room. It made the older feel a bit ashamed of the state of it. There was a heap of clothes he didn’t remember if they were clean or dirty ones on the corner by the desk. The latter wasn’t exactly neat and tidy. And as Luke had said, the only slightly tidier place was his bookshelf, where he kept his comics and funkos and other figures.

“I have news.” Luke said as he fixed his eyes on him again.

“Care to share?”

“I may have been assigned a new project.” Luke said quietly. “It’s a joint effort between the Crowd and the Animation department. Silex recommended me.”

“Oh my god. _Luke_.” Calum jumped up from the bed, his eyes wide and a big smile overtaking his features.

“It’s just background animation, nothing too fancy. For the new series.” Luke explained, kind of hanging still in the doorway.

“ _Mate_.” Calum stressed, crossing the room to him and engulfing him in a hug, patting him a couple of times in the back as he took a step back, letting out an admittedly joyous laugh. “I couldn’t be _happier_ for you, Luke. You really deserve this.”

Luke was biting his lip, his eyes uncertain, “Yeah?”

“Of course!” Calum reassured him. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how little Luke thought of himself. He was one of the best students in their grade, he was being praised left and right, and he still doubted. Calum really hoped this project would help him realise that he was leaps above everyone else in terms of skills. Besides, “Silex wouldn’t have entrusted it to you if you didn’t deserve it.” Calum shook his head with a smile pulling on his lips. “Believe in yourself, you _nugget_.”

“Sod off.” Luke scoffed, but soon he was laughing along with him.

They spent the afternoon on Calum’s room, Luke working on some of his portfolio and Calum supervising from time to time. Otherwise, he was just lying there with a slight smile on his face listening to Luke going on and on about the new project and the rigs and the different scenes and how exciting it all was. It came to a point were it was slightly annoying, but Calum just tuned him out for a bit as he took his phone, opening Instagram. And of course, the first account the app pulled up was IrwinArts. His fucking _luck._ It was worst, because it was a sketch of one of Calum’s favourite characters of his, and the whole fucking picture was just too... damn lovable. The guy, rainbow-haired, chasing a wild heart. What a fucking joke. He closed the app again and turned his attention to Luke. Maybe the younger’s love life –Calum refused to listen to Luke when he insisted his life wasn’t a tumblr post– was better than Calum’s non-existent one.

“By the way, still no answer from Clifford?” He asked casually, observing the way Luke dropped the stylus on the bed, leaving Calum’s Wacom next to it before he answered.

“Nope. Not a thing.” He tsked. “I don’t think he will at this point. It was a fun experiment while it lasted.”

The little laugh that escaped him after he finished talking didn’t exactly reach his eyes when they crossed with Calum’s.

“Sad.”

Luke just shrugged, and Calum frowned. Well. That was that, it seemed. Although, he had done some research that could make Luke get a move on pursuing that meeting with the lad.

“You know,–” He nudged Luke with his foot, getting him to look back to him with curiosity, “–I took the liberty to google the barcode of the label. From the photo you sent me.”

“You did _what_?”

“I was curious!” Calum defended himself, because Luke right now was fulminating him with his eyes.

“I am seriously discovering things about you that I don’t know if I should be concerned about, Cal.” The younger said, regarding him weirdly.

“Oh, shut up.” He shoved him again with his foot, making Luke break into laughter. “You want to _know_?” He wiggled his eyebrows for effect, but given by the last time they had this conversation, Calum knew he wasn’t being the littlest bit subtle about what he had discovered.

“By your tone I can very well imagine which item of clothing it belongs to.” Luke grunted, crossing his arms.

Sometimes Calum enjoyed messing with him too much. Besides. He owed him payback, for Luke constantly teasing him for fanboying over Ashton. Which… well. Calum had kind of deserved. But now his focus was on _Luke_.

“But think about it, mate.” He pressed. “He’s _big_.”

Calum had a slight feeling of deja vu to their last talk about it, but he didn’t mind, because Luke had grown awfully red at his suggestion, squeaking a very high pitched, “And?”

“Don’t know, it makes it funnier somehow.” Calum laughed heartily. Luke just kept glaring daggers at him.

“That cause you’ve never taken it up the ass.”

“Hey!” He shouted, indignant. Luke had gone overboard with that.

“Sorry.” The younger laughed. His cheeks were still red, but he had a glint in his eye that told Calum he wasn’t going to leave the teasing be. Not yet. “Wasn’t a _lie_ , though.”

“ _Luke_.” He groaned, rolling his eyes and letting himself fall on the bed. He had only been with one guy all the way, and no, it hadn’t been up his…, “Leave me alone.” He grumbled, an arm over his eyes.

“Gladly.”

Calum squeaked at that, kicking Luke in his leg. “Shut up, you would miss me.”

“Oh yes. A huge amount.” Luke retorted sarcastically, but then his smirk dissolved into a soft smile. Luke could never keep up the teasing, he was too kind for that. He smiled back and then he felt Luke’s hand patting his feet. “Regardless your unmissable personality, I’ll say…” He stopped, coughing a bit as he glanced away. The smile grew when his eyes met up with Calum’s again. “I’m really glad Ash accepted. At least you have someone in your corner now and you can move on with development. I’m happy for you.”

Calum smiled back, words stuck at his throat. He was never good with this stuff. So he just cleared his throat and mumbled, “You want to watch The Dark Night?”

Luke let out a small chuckle at Calum’s inability to face what the younger said head on. And Calum just thanked the heavens when Luke didn’t even acknowledge just how brusque he had been with the change of topic.

“Why the hell not?” The younger laughed. “Continue to educate me on all things DC.”

“I don’t think you realise just what you have just agreed to.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Luke?” Calum prompted, his eyes not leaving the screen as Heath Ledger continued to perform one of Calum’s ever so favourite lines from the film, a sudden idea popping up in his mind.

“Yeah?” Luke whispered back.

They had sat down together on the sofa for the film right after dinner, both their feet propped up on the coffee table and a bucket of popcorn a head. It was safe to say they had devoured them pretty quickly, and now the bowl remained with the few unpopped kernels on the table next to their feet. Calum focused his attention back on the screen, waiting for _the_ sentence. And then he spoke up, quietly.

“I’ve got an idea for Clifford to answer you.” He whispered, glancing right to Luke. And then chuckling when he heard the aftermath of that scene without looking at it  –sue him, he didn’t actually like to see explicit violence–. “Although he may report you to the authorities, I don’t know which way he’ll swing.”

Luke’s eyes widened as he turned back to look at him, his gaze darting between the screen and Calum’s eyes as something like understanding passed through them.

“Tell me more.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Have a nice afternoon!” Ashton shouted at him as he walked towards the bus stop, his grin and his next words making Michael stop dead on his tracks. “Tidy up your desk!”

“My _what_?” He asked, frowning.

But Ashton just shrugged and smirked at him, breaking into giggles right after and hurrying up his way to the bus stop.

Okay. That was _weird_. Although Ashton had been acting weird since Monday, when he came home smiling way too much and telling him about this project they had roped him into. Michael admitted it sounded cool, and it proved to be definitely an improvement from the gloomy mood Ashton had been in since the week before, but… Ashton would be literally working for free. Michael didn’t know how he had agreed to _that_. Although the internship at Hourglass was basically that, working for free. Which lead his thoughts to the offer from Chris to be working _not_ for free. And then Michael’s mood went down again.

It had been like that for the past week. He truly didn’t know what he was going to do about that. The offer was good, Chris had told him the details just before the weekend, for Michael to go over them. It was good pay, good hours, nice enough tasks. But… There was something missing. And Michael knew he shouldn’t be feeling this way, not when finding a job in the industry was as hard as it was but… He couldn’t help but feel like something would be missing in his life if he agreed to stay on at Hourglass. He had asked Chris for some time to think about it, and the older man had given him until his last week of the internship. Michael couldn’t help but see the irony in the time ticking by as if it was a sand, the weeks until then seeming like such a sort time to decide upon his entire future. He would just have to face it head on, wouldn’t he? Adulthood and all that.

He shook his head, starting to walk to the building and mentally preparing himself for the hours of coding ahead of him. If only getting back to it would have made his days brighter. But not even that had changed his perspective on the work hours at the studio. Which, really, in itself, was a great tell that maybe he shouldn’t accept the offer. Even if it meant good money, and a steady job. Ashton had cautioned restrained before he made any decision, and Michael took the older’s advice quite seriously. They had had lunch on a pub near campus, Michael picking Ashton up in his motorcycle. The older still had that awful smile plastered to his face and Michael wondered if had taken a shine to someone. But that wasn’t Ashton. Ashton didn't crush on people. So Michael remained completely clueless.

When he arrived at his desk, he was even more puzzled, because there wasn’t anything weird, and it certainly wasn’t messy enough to justify Ashton’s last comment. There was some notebook he assumed was from the kid from the mornings, the label, the note, the joker card on that stupid –but admittedly really cute– stand, some pens out of the pen cup. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Wait. There was something scribbled over the card. In red. No. That couldn’t be. That would certainly mark the guy as a psycho. It couldn’t be, right?

Michael reached for it, his eyes fixing on the three words painted over the card as if imitating blood.

 

**_Why so serious?_ **

 

And that smile. It couldn’t have been painted with blood, could it? Michael glanced around the room, waiting to see someone standing there all creepily, but the only people near were Silex at her computer, the guys from Layout and John and Desmond. And by Ashton’s words he knew this had to have been written by the morning intern. Hemmings. Luke? Yeah, he believed that was his name. Luke Hemmings.

Just as he was about to drop the card again in his desk, kind of freaked out, a folded note fell from his fingers. It had apparently been stuck to the card. He didn’t know if he should read it, but heck, why not? It already felt like he was in some kind of hidden camera reality show and he was just about to be pranked. Either that or he really did have a stalker, and a creepy one at that. Even when Silex and Ashton had denied time and again that Hemmings could be like that.

He sighed and opened the note, his eyes scanning the chicken scrawl on it as he frowned. It was awfully long.

 

**_P.S.: it’s a joke. I was warned it could be read as me being a psycho. Which I am not. Although now that I’m explaining it I realise it can also portray me as a psycho. Idk. I was just bored that first day, and when you answered I just thought, wow, someone nice at Hourglass. Hence the card joke._ **

****

**_P.S.S.: Thank you for integrating my cycles! Silex told me you worked on them in just one afternoon. That was seriously mind blowing, coming in the morning and finding all that work done. You must be good, yeah? Sorry, I’ve rambled on too much. Good day to you!_ **

**_L._ **

By the time Michael finished reading he was silently chuckling, rereading the first part and thinking to himself _‘Well, at least someone pointed it out to him’._ But he was surprised by the rest of it, Ashton’s and Silex’s words about the kid being awfully nice and polite being confirmed right before his eyes. And… He felt compelled to answer. Didn’t know why. Well. Because the kid was nice, and he had praised and thanked Michael for his work. So it was only the right thing to do to answer with a note of the same kind, right? And if he had this sense of humour –admittedly a bit dark, but funny and quite similar to Michael’s own–, he couldn’t be that bad, could he?

So Michael took one of the black pens and scrawled out an answer, smiling to himself all the while, silently chucking.

 

_I thought you were completely mad and a stalker for the better part of a week, you know, mate? Although the jury’s still out on that one xD No thanks needed for the cycles, it was just work. And they were so easy to integrate because the animation was near flawless, so thank **you** for that. You have a nice morning tomorrow, Batman enthusiast. _

_P.S.: the why so serious made me really think that you were a creepy stalker, you might need to revise your jokes department._

_M._

He folded it and placed the card back on its stand, leaving the notes in front of it. Time to get back to the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Love ya all xx


	6. I think he knows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! This has taken a bit too long, but it's also double the length of my usual chapters here, so idk. Enjoy I guess!! :3

_I feel appalled that you should think me a stalker._

_Hahhahaaha. But, really. I am not. And my jokes department is just fine. Here’s another joke for you, just in case you find yourself as bored as I get sometimes:_

_What does Batman like to put in his drinks?_

_Just ice._

_P.S.: please don’t kill me for that hahahah_

_L_.

 

Michael couldn’t have stopped the bouts of laughter coming up his throat as he read the note even if he had tried. Not even when Silex, John and Desmond turned to look at him like he had gone mad, shaking their heads at his laughter. That pun had been _good_. Well. Not good _good_ , but _pun_ good. And Michael enjoyed those. Immensely. Perhaps that had been why he and Ashton had clicked so easily when he first moved in. The older had a peculiar sense of humour that always made Michael laugh, and by the looks of this Luke and his quickly stricken friendship with Ashton, Michael would bet anything that they had probably bonded over that too.

Which kind of made Michael even more curious about him. He knew Ashton had been trying to get him to come earlier to work just so he could introduce them, but… Michael had other things looming on his mind, much more important than any opportunity for an anything with this guy could be. He didn’t have time for flings or relationships or whatever may come out of that, no matter how Ashton told him he needed something to take his mind off of work and his future. No amount of fun was going to distract Michael from that.

Silex had asked him right as he came through the doors if he had given any thought to Chris offer. And Michael had. Given it a great deal of thought. And he still didn’t have any fucking idea what to do about it. In one hand, he could follow Ashton’s latest advice. Accept the offer for now, look for something he could actually _like_ doing for the rest of his life _while_ he had a permanent job and income. Which was grand of Ashton to say after he had thrown himself to his nonsense project without seeing even a penny.

Michael hadn’t seen him properly for four days, and he wasn’t ashamed to say he missed him. Ashton was spending way too much time at the library working with that team. He hadn’t even made Michael sit with him through a documentary in a _week_. Ashton used to do that once a day, twice on the weekends. Now he wasn’t even home on the weekends. He was always smiling when Michael crossed him in the hallway or the kitchen, though, so at least he seemed to be happy. Michael could grumble about it all he wanted, but he knew lately Ashton was happier than he had been before –even if he had done a conscious job of trying to hide it–, and Michael was glad of it. Even if Ashton seemed to not have time for him anymore.

Whatever. He was a big boy. He could do life without Ashton for a few days. Adulting and all.

His eyes fell down again to the note from Hemmings, chuckling softly at his plead for Michael not to kill him over his horrible taste in jokes. And Michael didn’t really know what possessed him, but he found himself turning the piece of paper around and writing on its back without even thinking about the implications of furthering their communication. The note had managed to make him laugh even with the whole thing going on in his life. The least he could do was trying to return the favour to Hemmings, leave him something to laugh about and make his days a bit less boring than what he mentioned in his note. Because Michael understood just how _boring_ things could get around there.

 

 

**_You know, I’m still not convinced you’re not a psycho murderer because let me tell you, leaving Joker’s calling card and then adding a painted ‘Why so serious?’ doesn’t exactly scream sanity. And also, your Batman jokes are seriously lame –even if they do make me laugh... a lot–. Wait. Is that what this is? You buttering me up for killing making me laugh and feel secure just so I won’t see the knife?_ **

**_P.S.: Here’s a real joke for ya:_ **

**_What position did Bruce Wayne play in his baseball team?_ **

**_The bat boy ;P_ **

**_M._ **

 

The rest of the afternoon after that went by quicker by some miracle. Michael kept working on the code with Silex, this time shoulder to shoulder, both getting their fix of caffeine at the same time. Once they finished their work for the day, Michael offered her yet another lift, and for once Silex consented to riding in the back of his bike. She lived a little ways off of Michael’s neighbourhood, but he didn’t mind driving a bit more. It helped ease his mind, when he could just… not think about anything else than the road and not running into anyone or anything. He stopped at Greg and Maria’s to pick up some dinner –for one, sadly– before driving back home, trudging up the stairs of their building feeling like a huge something was weighing him down. That something being his whole future. Michael really hated having to make decisions. It was a Thursday, though, so that meant only classes the next day. No hours at Hourglass, thank god, and he would be able to at least rest during the coming weekend.

He was surprised to see Ashton in the flat, running from the bathroom to his room to the bathroom again with a toothbrush on his mouth and his sneakers in his right hand.

“Where are you headed?” Michael asked, leaning against the frame of the bathroom as Ashton rinsed his mouth, checking his teeth on the mirror. It made Michael frown.

“Pub.” Ashton smiled at him, walking past and straight to his room. “Team spirit building or some bullshit.”

Michael just hummed, eyes following Ashton, turning around to look at him as he held up two different shirts in front of the mirror in his room, clearly trying to decide which one to throw on. Chuckling, Michael pointed to the one on his left hand. “Maroon one.”

“You sure?” Ashton turned to look at him, arching his eyebrow. “Isn’t it… too bland?”

“Nah.”

“Kay. Thanks.” Ashton grinned at him as he put it on, sitting on his bed and lacing up his sneakers

“So how is it going?” Michael asked tentatively, and when he heard the way he sounded –almost like a demanding boyfriend–, he added jokingly, “It’s like I don’t know anything about you anymore.”

And then Ashton stopped lacing his shoes, looking up as he bit his lower lip, brow furrowed.

“Oh shit.” He muttered. “Mm. I can cancel.”

“What?” Michael snorted, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean it like that, _chill._ “Ashton just sent him a _look_ that said he didn’t believe him for a second, which made Michael break out laughing again, giving in. “Okaaay. Maybe I’ve missed you this week, but I’m not a child.”

“And I’ve been a shitty friend.” Ashton muttered. “Sorry, man.”

It was time for Michael to fulminate him with his eyes, which seemed to have the effect intended, because Ashton rolled his eyes at him and went back to readying himself.

“Who’re you meeting?” Michael asked as he let himself in, sitting on Ashton’s swivel chair and glancing around the desk. Ashton was a bit… messy when it came to him keeping his shit hidden. A few sketches from the game were loose, in between Ashton’s stationery.

“Kevin, he’s the boss.” Ashton started. Michael was browsing through the drawings, still amazed after two years at the skill level the older possessed. “Alice and Olivia are coming too, I think. They’re on code. And ummm… Tris? He’s supposed to work through some shit tonight though, I’m not sure he’s coming.” Michael was finishing skimming through them as Ashton finally got up from the bed, fishing his jacket from the chair Michael was sat at. One of the sketches had stood out to him the most. Mainly because it didn’t appear to follow the others’ style. This was one of Ashton’s original characters, Michael thought. “Oh, and Calum. He organised this whole damn thing.”

“That the one who roped you into that mess?” Michael asked curiously, looking up at Ashton as he left the sketch back on his desk. The older was frowning slightly as he stared at the pages. But he was quick to mask it as he looked down to meet Michael’s eyes.

“It’s not as much of a mess as I expected, actually.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “But yes. It was Calum.”

His eyes had gone back down to the papers before he sighed and picked up his wallet too, donning on the jacket and twirling around for Michael to look at the whole ensemble, clearly asking for approval. Michael grinned and gave him the thumbs up, breaking into giggles when Ashton tried to catwalk.

“Have a good night.” He laughed, rolling his eyes at the older.

“Thanks.” Ashton beamed back, walking out to the hallway and turning back to look at him. “We can have lunch tomorrow, if you’ve got nothing planned.”

“Perfect.” Michael chuckled, before he ushered him off. “Go, you’ll be late.”

But Ashton just laughed at it, “Doubt it. Bye!”

“Bye.” Michael waved.

He listened as Ashton walked down to the front door, it closing and then everything falling back to silence. His eyes fell down to Ashton’s drawings again, and it made some mixed emotions swirl around in Michael’s chest. Ashton was a good artist, a good animator. And he _enjoyed_ what he did, didn’t apparently mind working for free because he _believed_ in what he was working towards. Michael certainly envied his passion. Because it reminded him of a time when he was like that, but… it had long since faded.

Michael didn’t remember the last time he felt remotely creative, having to pour down his feelings in the form of something artful, like his drawings before, or when he used to cosplay. Or even just animating stuff, at the beginning of the year. That had all but faded away without him even noticing, which was kind of sad. Maybe it was just a matter of getting back to those things, seeing if he found motivation again in any of his past hobbies. Maybe that was what he was lacking. Some hobby to take his mind a bit off of things.

One last look at Ashton’s drawings had him standing up and leaving the room, going straight for his own bedroom. His cosplay stuff was all piled up in a box on the upper shelf of his closet. When Michael saw the layer of dust it had accumulated, he realised just how much time it had been since the last time he did anything related to it. This year he had only gone to one convention, and that was because he had convinced Ashton to go just because there was a panel lead by Frank Miller and Michael wouldn’t have forgiven himself if he missed it.

It was weird, browsing through the things in the box. The odd spare buttons, the sewing set. His carving tools. God. It felt like a lifetime since he had last used those. Not to speak of his pyrography pen. Shit. That had been sitting there since Ashton’s birthday last year. The wooden Marvel panel he made for him. It had roughly been a full twelve months since that. And Michael hadn’t even noticed. How could he have stopped doing that?

He took it all out, the carving set, the pen, searching around the box for anything, any spare that he could use to test it. He came across that one sword he carved. First thing he ever did, with an almost blunt Swiss knife. That had been _ages_ ago. Michael kind of wanted to know if he still could do something relatively acceptable. He found a small wooden box buried in between the cosplays, some stamps Ashton had once sold at another con in it. It was the perfect subject for testing Michael’s skills.

He almost didn’t notice time passing by, focused as he was in sketching a design, carving it and then adding pyrography decorations. His pulse had weakened during the time not using the stuff, so the result came out looking rather clumsy, but overall, Michael was surprised that he still could handle them at all. _Pleasantly_ surprised. Because for a moment there, he had felt that _need_ to keep going, that _motivation_ to complete a task, and the satisfaction of actually managing it. It was a weird feeling he had been lacking completely at Hourglass. And he didn’t know what to think of that either. Because it confirmed his thoughts about animation no longer doing it for him. Or at least, not at the moment.

Michael hadn’t felt accomplished in so, _so_ long. Not once in all the time he had been at Hourglass, handing in assignments. And it felt so weird that even when this little thing, carving a box, had ended up being quite clumsy looking, he still felt proud of the result. It was too weird. The realisation was too much to handle, even more so when his eyes fell on the clock marking 2 am, the night gone by. And him not having  even had dinner. Fuck.

Michael was in the middle of preparing himself some scrambled eggs and bacon –breakfast for dinner and all– when he heard the keys jingling at the front door, someone trying to open the door quite a few times before he heard Ashton stumbling through it. The older was giggling nonstop, which alerted Michael about him being probably more than a bit drunk, and he shook his head. And then he frowned as he heard some unfamiliar guy’s voice coming from the hall. Had Ashton brought someone home? That was _new._

“Well, there you are.” The stranger said. Ashton giggled some more as Michael turned off the stove and removed the pan from it, walking to the door of the kitchen trying to hear the whole conversation.

“Thanks.” Ashton said. He sounded drunk out of his mind. “You’re _really_ nice.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” The stranger chuckled. He sounded much more sober than Ashton, and even though he was just following along Ashton’s words, Michael detected a hint of fondness.

“It was fun, dancing.” Ashton kept on. “You dance great. You have _moves._ ” And then he giggled before asking, “Can you teach me, boss?”

“No, it’s late.” The guy chuckled. “I’m going home now, Ash.”

Okay. So he wasn’t there to stay. Thank god, Michael wanted to sleep and not have to listen to Ashton making out or _‘learning moves’_  with this guy. Not that Michael had ever had that problem before. Ashton had never brought someone home in the whole two years they had known each other. Had never _had_ anyone to bring.

“Not too drunk to go alone?” Ashton asked, seemingly sobering up a little.

“I only had a couple of pints, unlike you.” The other guy laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

Michael heard some ruffling, like the stranger had hugged Ashton, and his suspicions were soon confirmed when he heard Ashton’s muffled, “Text when you get home, please.”

“Okay _mum._ ”

“Fuck you.”

“Goodnight, Ash.” The lad laughed.

There was more ruffling, a noise that sounded like a peck, and then their front door closed, Michael hearing Ashton locking up. He took that as his cue to go back to his own devices, turning his attention back to the pan, plating his dinner and taking it to the table. He was just sitting down when Ashton crashed through the door, looking confused as his eyes landed on Michael.

“You still up?”

“Clearly.” Michael deadpanned. And then he snorted when Ashton tried to walk towards him, knocking himself against the countertop and having to catch himself so he didn’t fall. “How much did you _drink_?”

“Not much?” Ashton grinned. And then started giggling. And that answered Michael’s question, anyway. “Can I have some? It smells _great_. I’m so hungry. Mmm, bacon.”

“This is _my_ dinner.” Michael said, grabbing the plate and bringing it closer to him when Ashton attempted to pick up some bacon with his bare hands. The older proceeded to pout at him for a full minute until Michael gave in, sighing. “Grab a fork.”

“Thanks! I love you.” Ashton grinned. “Everyone’s so _nice_ today to me.”

The older was weirdly smiling, but Michael put that mostly on the amount of alcohol pumping through his veins. Probably. And he thanked god that someone had made sure Ashton got home, because he didn’t look quite capable of having managed it on his own.

“Who was there at the door?” He asked when Ashton had sat down in front of him, attacking Michael’s dinner viciously.

“Oh. That was _Calum_.” Ashton mumbled through his mouthful. “He didn’t think I would make it home because I’m–” he paused to air quote, "– _‘plastered’_.”

“He was probably right.” Michael snickered.

“ _Shut up_.” Ashtons cheeks filled with colour. “I’m perfectly mostly sober. But he was _nice_ , he walked me home and made sure I made it here. He didn’t want to dance, though.”

That only made Michael laugh harder at him. Good god, he didn’t remember the last time he and Ashton had gotten drunk together. He had almost forgotten just how much fun drunk Ashton was.

“I take it the night went fine?” He asked.

“Yeah, it was fun. People left too early, though. Party poopers.” Ashton sighed, leaving his fork on the table and pushing the plate back to Michael, who picked up his own fork and dived in. “I can’t believe youth these days don’t know the joys of going to school without sleeping a wink.”

“I wouldn’t call that a _joy._ ” Michael snorted.

Ashton just rolled his eyes at him, yawning as he settled comfortably against the wall.

“Why _you_ up so late?”

“Stayed up carving some stuff.” Michael answered, grinning at Ashton after swallowing another bite.

“Noice.” Ashton nodded energetically. It made Michael start laughing again.

“I think you should go sleep it off, mate.” He said, shaking his head at Ashton as he finished the remains of his –admittedly– small dinner.

“I _am_  rather sleepy. Itsy-bitsy sleepy.” Ashton agreed, another yawn making him scrunch up his eyes. “I will sleep.”

He tried standing up way too quickly, swaying and falling forward towards Michael, who had to catch him by the shoulders as he struggled to contain his laughter.

“You go sleep, yeah.” He laughed. “See you tomorrow, buddy.”

“Night night.” Ashton said, and then he trudged his way out of the kitchen, leaving Michael there chuckling silently as he stared at his friend.

It really had been some time since they last went out together, maybe he should suggest that to sober Ashton in the morning. Although, given the amount of alcohol he seemed to have ingested, Michael would bet that the morning hangover would prevent Ashton from saying yes. Not to say anything of him having to go to his shift at Hourglass. Michael prayed for him as he got up to wash his dishes, the laughter still pulling at his lips.

 

* * *

 

 

_Did you google that joke? No, seriously, I want to know if it’s a valid option for me too hahahhaha Let’s see who can find the most horrendous joke, shall we?_

_Here’s my first entry:_

_Where does Batman’s goldfish live?_

_In the bat-tub!_

_P.S.: I feel as if I’m stealing your last one, but I came across that one and I couldn’t resist writing it down for you xD_

_L._

**_Oh god, lol. You’re on. Anything to make the hours pass quicker here. Here’s mine (keeping up the trend and drawing inspiration from one of yours if I may say):_ **

**_What’s Batman’s favourite smoothie flavour?_ **

**_Ba na na na na na na na ba na na na na na na na grape-fruit!_ **

**_P.S.: Silex told me about your assignment for Animation, congrats man!_ **

**_M._ **

 

 

_Thanks, I guess? You’re kind. You this kind to strangers often? Hope your afternoon is better than my morning. It was a bore today, truly. I hate Tuesdays._

_My entry for today:_

_Why doesn’t Batman like Mr Freeze?_

_He always gives him the cold shoulder._

_L._

 

* * *

 

 

Ashton was beginning to hate himself for having agreed to get on board with the game, because since he did that almost three weeks ago now, his life had become that much more _stressful_. Hourglass in the mornings, game after lunch, coursework he couldn’t do because he was _at_ the Studio during the mornings on the evenings. Michael had been right that day, Ashton felt like he didn’t spend much time home anymore, and even less hanging out with Michael. Even if he tried to make time, it was only on the weekend.

He had also gone out with the crew a couple more times, met up with Calum several days for an afternoon of playing Dark Souls and generally messing around. And he felt bad, because he was spending way more time with him than Michael, but Michael was at the Hourglass during the afternoons, and then he was always working overtime. Plus, Calum was nice and funny, Ashton had found. And they got on extremely well, and his work ethic was great, his narratives amazing, and he just generally seemed like a good guy. After that first night Ashton had gone out for drinks with the team and Calum accompanied him home, Ashton had found himself hanging out with the boy more and more.

It was strange. Ashton usually kept to himself at all times, but… Between Luke and Calum, he was kind of beginning to see his life panning out a different way. Lunch breaks he spent with both of them right before him and Calum headed to the library or their designated booked room to work on the game, and his mornings at Hourglass were certainly less dull than they would have been if Luke hadn’t been there. And it was just nice, finding himself with friends that weren’t Michael. Ashton loved him, but… variety was essential for them not to grow too sick of each other. And it was actually working, because Ashton missed hanging out with him now.

His internship at Hourglass was going quite well, but both him and Silex knew Ashton wasn’t exactly made for Crowd Animation. He wasn’t exactly made for 3D animation either, even when his coursework and grades said otherwise. Ashton worked his butt off to be _good_ , but now that he had Luke in front of him at Hourglass, he had the confirmation right before him that animating stuff wasn’t his call.

Ashton had never seen someone so focussed and passionate as Luke was with his new assignment, no matter how the younger insisted it was driving him nuts. It kind of inspired Ashton to work harder, although he was focusing his efforts on the game more than at Hourglass, where he was just doing what was expected of him. He worked best in Character Design, not Crowd, and that was just the cold hard truth. Nothing Ashton hadn’t known before he joined the masters, nothing he had hidden from Silex when he started the internship either. Ashton was just trying to round up his skills and further them, in case he could find work more easily as an animator than as an artist.

Lately there hadn’t been many people in his DMs asking for commissions, so that was a thing. No income from there. Which was a bit of a let down, having to rely on his mum again. But it meant that whatever free time he had –which was once every blue moon– he could now spend working on his own designs. Usually, he moved on pretty quickly from character to character, never staying too much time drawing the same one, but lately he had been sketching the same boy once and time again, even making little comics with him. He had experimented trying on different hairstyles and hair colour, but the character was always the same. A cute little guy, big brown eyes. His follower count hadn’t taken a hit from the repetitiveness, so Ashton guessed it hadn’t become annoying just yet. Which was why he found himself sketching the character mindlessly one dreadfully boring morning at Hourglass.

It was raining again, some big storm lighting up the sky behind Luke’s desk that had more than once made Ashton jump in his seat. Light had gone out twice in the Studio. The second time the generator hadn’t kicked in properly, which led to a lot of angry shouting and people complaining about their work being lost as all their computers turned off. Nothing to be done while they waited for maintenance to work it out, though. So while Luke had begun his daily routine of googling Batman jokes on his phone for Michael –that was a thing that had surprisingly kept going on every single day without fail– Ashton had fished out his sketchbook and begun to doodle in it. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Luke’s voice coming from behind him instead of the other side of the desk.

“That looks cool.” The blonde hummed.

Ashton frowned, looking at the drawing. He had sketched the boy laughing, the heart he had designed as the boy’s companion jumping around excitedly behind him. It didn’t look especially appealing to him, but he supposed Luke was just trying to be nice. He always was.

“Thanks.” He smiled up at him. And then an idea came up to him. “By the way, I have some tickets to a classmate’s exhibition downtown. You want to come?”

Luke seemed to consider it for a moment before his face fell down. “Can’t. I am supposed to meet my brothers for dinner tonight.”

“That’s a pity.” Ashton sighed. “I’ll ask my roommate, although lately he’s been mighty busy.”

“Yeah? What does he do?” Luke asked curiously.

And Ashton suddenly was at a crossroads. Did he keep up with Michael’s wishes not to tell Luke he knew him? Or should he come clean? Whatever jokes competition those two had clearly indicated they both had to at least like each other a little, and that they got on well. Ashton knew Michael wouldn’t have kept that up if he didn’t think it worth his time. Which didn’t explain _why_ he kept refusing meeting up with them for lunch. It was kind of weird, him not wanting to meet Luke face to face, but then again, Michael sometimes did stuff Ashton found way weirder, so it wasn’t that surprising. His reasons he would have.

Luke was eyeing him, and Ashton realised he hadn’t actually answered, clearing his throat embarrassed and blurting out the first thing that came to his mind.

“He’s, uh, … He’s a carpenter.” He smiled tightly after that, his inner voice telling him he was stupid and he should have thought something less… _that_. “Yeah. He carves things. Works with wood.” He added anyway.

“Oh. Nice.” Luke smiled at him, but clearly he was just trying to be nice and not acknowledge what they both knew: that Ashton had just lied like a complete loser. Well, he didn’t exactly _lie_. Michael had been carving on every available wood surface he had come across on their apartment, starting with their kitchen utensils. Which in a way Ashton found great, because it meant Michael was getting out of the funk he had been in, but… It was also a little worrying just how much time the boy was spending on his reclaimed hobby.

“You want to go get something to eat while we get for the power to get back on?” Luke suggested after a moment of silence, and Ashton nodded fervently. Anything to escape the situation he had just dug himself into.

“I’m starving, actually.” He beamed up at Luke, grabbing his wallet and standing up.

Morning trailed by at an astonishingly slow pace after that, if it was even possible. Ashton had for once agreed to meet up with Michael for lunch, so after he said goodbye to Luke, he hoped on the bus to the pizza place near campus he and Mike liked to go to every once in a while, stepping off right in front of the diner. Michael had already ordered for them both, Ashton gratefully smiling at him as he took a seat down and started scarfing down his pizza.

“Hey, Andrea is opening her exhibit tonight.” He said casually, but Michael caught him on the spot.

“I can’t go.” He pursed his lips.

“Why?” Ashton frowned.

“I need to work on Hourglass stuff.” Michael shrugged. “Don’t have enough time during the afternoons, and Silex and I have to turn this part of the framework in by next week. We’re running out of time.”

“But they never let us take stuff home.” Ashton squinted at him. “Plus, we never hang out anymore.”

“That’s not only my fault, Mr Popularity.” Michael said pointing at him with a fry. “You’ve been out with that crew of yours more than you’ve been home.”

“True. Sorry.” Ashton grimaced.

“And you’re spending an _awful_ lot of time with this Calum guy.” Michael pointed out, and Ashton knew he was purposefully avoiding meeting his gaze.

“I don’t know if you’re jealous or you’re implying something else, but I can tell you it’s neither of the things you may be thinking about.” Ashton sighed as he rolled his eyes. Michael liked to appear mysterious like this, implying things without actually saying it out loud, but Ashton had learnt how to read him like a book.

It still irritated him to no end when Michael said, “We’ll see.”

Michael liked to see things where they weren’t, mainly, when Ashton’s love life was involved. And even when he had chilled for a while after Ashton told him to leave him be, that he was happy on his own, lately he had been throwing in comments like these about Calum. And it irked Ashton, because… Calum was a good guy, but Ashton just wasn’t… into relationships. He truly was not. Even if Ashton admitted he found Calum a bit attractive and had entertained the thought of what would be like to make out with him –only to himself, he would never admit it to Michael’s face– Ashton was not going to pursue it. He had been hanging out with Calum because of three reasons: as a product of convenience –they were obligated to spend time together working on the project–, because he actually _liked_ hanging out with him, and, because Michael was mighty busy lately, and Ashton needed a bit of socialising or else he would absolutely go mental on his own. Sue him if he enjoyed spending time with Calum.

“Well, since you pointed out it was my fault we’re not hanging out as much lately, you _should_ come to this thing, it’s just a couple of hours.” Ashton said instead, trying to redirect the conversation to the real topic at hand.

“I don’t know.” Michael frowned, taking a sip of his glass.

“You’re not going to die if you take a couple of hours for socialising, Mike.” Ashton chuckled, but when he saw Michael’s worried face he tried another way. “Besides, tomorrow’s Friday and you’re free all afternoon to work on that.”

“You’re relentless, you know that?” The blonde laughed, shaking his head at him. It made Ashton crack up a smile. “Let me get back to you when I finish at Hourglass.”

“Okay.” He accepted.

They finished eating while Ashton rambled on about the designs he was just finishing for the game, waiting for them to be approved by the team the following week. It was nice to be able to speak about the project with Michael after almost a week without having the time to talk to him at all. Ashton was excited about it, and even when he felt kind of guilty for monopolising their conversation topic, it was nice having Michael’s inputs. He always gave nice constructive criticism and had pretty good insights that helped Ashton better himself.

Ashton, however, felt like he had been talking about his life for far too long when he saw Michael had already finished his coffee, his expression thoughtful as he stared at the mug. Ashton could imagine where his thoughts had drifted to.

“Have you decided? About the offer?” He asked cautiously, but to the point.

Michael looked up at him and his lips formed a tight smile. “Not yet. It’s making me quite anxious, to be honest. Having this deadline over my head, having to decide.”

Ashton nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee before he piped in again.

“You still dislike it?”

Michael chuckled at that. “Yeah. I can’t find anything that helps me keep motivated, only the fact that Silex needs help keeps me focused.” He sighed, rubbing his temple before adding, “And that we have to perform.”

“I mean, you’re still an intern, so the responsibility shouldn’t be on your shoulders.” Ashton frowned, but was quick to add, “But I get it.” And then something occurred to him. Same as Luke was inspiring him to work harder, maybe Michael could find inspiration in someone else. Someone who loved their work at Hourglass, someone Michael worked shoulder to shoulder. “Maybe you should talk to Silex about it.” He offered up.

Michael eyed him weirdly from his corner of the booth, his right arm coming up to rest on top of the seat. “You think?” The blonde frowned. “Would you really tell your boss you’re horribly unmotivated and questioning your career in a field she breathes and lives for?”

Ashton had to laugh at his way of putting up his situation, but he sobered up quickly, shaking his head and leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“But maybe that’s exactly what you need, Mike. Someone who _loves_ their work, hearing them talk about it.” Ashton insisted. “I think she could help you figure out why you’re not loving it anymore.”

Michael considered it for a moment. Ashton knew Silex may be able to chip in. Her and Michael were more than just coworkers. He _knew_ Michael looked up to her. And he was convinced that if Silex just knew what was going on, she would jump at the chance to help Michael, whichever way it may be.

He heard Michael sighing in front of him, arm coming back down as his shoulders slumped. But he looked up to Ashton with half a smile as he said, “I’ll think about it.” Ashton grinned at him, but Michael raised his hand to stop him. “I don’t know if Silex would be able to help. She’s… a friend, but I don’t know if that _close_.”

“Please, you know she’s the closest friend you have after me, and that’s saying something, given that one, she’s your boss, and two, you only meet her five months ago.” Ashton laughed, kicking Michael under the table until the blonde broke into a smile.

“I guess you have a point.” He conceded.

“Thank you.” Ashton smirked.

 

* * *

 

 

Ashton had hitched a ride back to campus with Michael, scared for his life all throughout it. It was still raining and Michael’s bike wasn’t exactly the safest method of travel. He had a tutorship meeting with one of his professors about his final reel which proved to be quite productive. After that he had just hung out at the cafeteria with a couple of girls from his class who had been in to see Eli too, waiting for Michael to finish up at Hourglass and text him his confirmation about the exhibit.

He didn’t have to wait too long for Michael’s text after he wrapped up at the Studio, but Michael just asked if he needed a ride to the city. He didn’t outright say he wasn’t going out, but Ashton understood it anyway. He texted a back a quick _yes_ –even with his fear of bikes, Ashton preferred it over the sure traffic jam he would have to endure on the bus just because it was still raining– and started his way to the car park, bundling himself in his ridiculously coloured raincoat. He hadn’t found his umbrella that morning, and that had meant having to resort to a very bad fashion decision he had taken back in his first year of uni. Michael’s jabs had _not_ made it better. Nor had Luke’s giggles when Ashton had arrived at Hourglass that morning.

He soon spotted Michael walking towards the park too. He was the only weirdo dressed in all black, completed with his black helmet. Ashton shook his head at him and ran up to the younger. They were soon walking by the library, Michael accelerating his steps surely wanting to get to the bike and just drive away as quickly as possible. But Ashton had just stopped dead in his tracks, a sudden idea popping into his mind. His eyes were trained on the second floor of the library even when the reflecting windows didn’t allow anyone to see inside.

“Ash?” Michael called out to him, seemingly having noticed Ashton not walking alongside him anymore. “You coming? I don’t really fancy catching a cold just from standing under the rain, mate.”

It made Ashton shake himself out of the trance he had been in, turning around and motioning for Michael to go.

“Go ahead!” He waved again. “I’m going to ask around for the extra ticket. See you tonight!”

“Ask around or ask _Calum_?” Michael snickered.

“ _Bye_ , Michael.”

Michael waved back at him and started to jog towards his bike. Ashton shook his head at his best friend as he climbed it and ignited the engine quicker than Ashton had ever seen him doing it. With a laugh, he took his phone out and shoot Calum a quick text.

 

_You still on campus?_

The reply didn’t take very long.

 

**_Library._ **

 

Ashton knew he wouldn’t have left yet. He jogged towards the entrance of the library, not surprised to find it almost empty given it was a Thursday afternoon. He didn’t know if taking out his raincoat would make a bigger mess than keeping it on, and since the girl behind the entrance desk didn’t say anything, he just kept it on as he walked up the stairs quickly. It was even less crowded than the ground floor. People probably were pre-gaming already.

Ashton found Calum where he knew the younger spent a huge chunk of his time outside of class. It seemed like he never moved from his corner of the library, tucked away in the Wacom section.

A nod with his head was the only greeting Ashton received before he plopped himself down next to Calum, watching fascinated as he finished shading up some parts of the background. Calum was a pretty good artist too. Ashton envied some of his technique, the way he threw himself into the project without pausing to sketch it first. He had noticed that too in the younger’s sketchbook. He almost never used pencils, it was always direct ink.

Calum hadn’t even properly looked at Ashton since he sat down next to him, absorbed as he was on his work, which was why, when he finally did after finishing his painting and his eyes widened comically, Ashton wasn’t too surprised.

“What are you _wearing_?” Calum snorted, eyeing him up and down a couple of times, giggles making his eyes crinkle in a way that lit up his whole face.

“Couldn’t find my umbrella.” Ashton shrugged.

“That still doesn’t explain _that_.” Calum laughed, pointing at the ensemble. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome if you want to draw _attention_.”

Ashton just rolled his eyes, sighing as he waited for Calum to stop giggling, even if it was mighty tempting to join him.

“So…” He said when the dark-haired boy calmed down a bit. “I have two tickets for this exhibition a classmate’s doing and my best friend just deserted me. You up for it? Free of charge.” He smiled at Calum. He really hoped the younger said yes. Ashton wanted to go to the exhibit, but he wasn’t that close with the people in his class and, honestly, he’d much rather hang out with Calum.

“Am I your last resort?” The black-haired boy snorted.

“I, um… I–.” Ashton sputtered, and he felt ashamed at having being caught. It wasn’t like Calum was his last resort, it was just… that he hadn’t thought of asking Calum, not after Michael’s comments. Perhaps Ashton was trying to stay away from him unconsciously, to not give Michael the satisfaction of being right about Ashton having something for the boy. Even when Ashton didn’t, and he wasn’t going to.

“I’m joking.” Calum said after a few more tense seconds. “I’m never going to say no to free stuff.”

Ashton laughed at that, nervously. Because at first it had seemed Calum was actually upset at being Ashton’s last resort, something flashing in his eyes. And now they had fallen into a not so comfortable silence as the younger saved the project he had been working on before turning off the computer. Ashton waited as Calum finished packing up his laptop and notes into his back, his sketchbook clutched tight between his hands. He looked weird, somehow. Ashton couldn’t put his finger on it, but after that exchange the younger was acting differently than what Ashton had come to expect from him. And it was making everything even more awkward.

“What time does it start?” Calum cut into his thoughts, his right clutching the strap of his bag tightly. He looked nervous somehow.

“Two hours from now. It’s downtown.” Ashton smiled.

“Great.” Calum said. “I have time for a stop at McDonald’s. I’m _starving_.”

“Uhh. Can I come?” Ashton asked excitedly, anything to make them break the weird mood they had gotten into. “It’s been _months_ since I last had a McFlurry.”

But Calum just shrugged, flinging his bag strip over his shoulder and pushing the chair back into its place. He had turned away quickly, but Ashton had spied a blush on his cheeks right before he did. Ashton frowned for a moment, not really understanding why Calum acting so strangely out of a sudden.

It was after the silence didn’t lift even after they had been five minutes waiting for a bus at the stop that Ashton suddenly realised what was weird about the interaction he had had with Calum. The younger had avoided his eyes like the plague ever since Ashton suggested the outing. He was also _quieter_ than usual. Which was just... plain weird. Ashton didn’t think he had done anything that could justify this shift in Calum’s behaviour towards him. Well. He didn’t quite remember what they had talked about last time they saw each other, because they had both gotten quite drunk in an outing with the team. But he doubted he had said anything to offend the boy. Had he? And besides, Calum had only changed his attitude towards him after mentioning the free ticket.

“Is there something wrong?” Ashton asked, frowning, after another five minutes of complete silence.

They were alone at the bus stop, and by the looks of the schedule on Ashton’s phone, they would be there for a while longer. It was still 15 minutes before the next bus passed. He sometimes hated the public transport with a passion.

“What?” Calum lifted his gaze from his phone, eyebrows bunching up, meeting Ashton’s gaze for the first time all afternoon.

“You’re not talking. You usually don’t shut up, _boss_.” The older tried to jest, and Calum let out a little snort.

“Oh. _That_.” Calum laughed nervously. “I’m just tired, I guess. Long week.” He scrunched up his nose, stretching himself and letting his head fall against the back of the bench they were seated on. He looked quite cute, now that Ashton thought of it. Not that he hadn’t thought of it before. It had been literally the first impression he ever got of him.

“Hm.”

Calum didn’t look like he was just tired, though. But Ashton didn’t know him _that_ well yet, and he wasn’t just about to start blurting out personal questions when Calum clearly didn’t want to talk about it. So he copied Calum’s position and stayed shut, waiting for the bus.

 

* * *

 

 

 _I have a confession to make._ _I had never watched or read Batman before I started leaving these notes. In fact, my best friend gave me a real hard time because I watched them only last month. He’s the biggest Batman fan out there. He has like a… shrine? With all his comics and figures and stuff._

_Are you one of those fans? The shrine type? Hahahahah_

_L._

**_I can’t believe you. You’ve been lying this whole time? I feel betrayed :(_ **

**_I guess everyone just likes what they like, right? My best friend is obsessed with Marvel and I’d never understand why. He doesn’t have a shrine, but he does have some posters up on the walls. And when I say some, I mean about 20. I’ve counted them._ **

**_M._ **

 

 

 

_Wow, I think I’d get on well with your roommate. Mine’s actually turned me into a DC fan, all ‘Once you go bat, you never go back.’ Sorry, had to squeeze in some pun, or else this wouldn’t be one of our chats. Hahahahahaah_

_And Marvel films are good, you know. I’m an advocate for those. Although in animation they lack some realism. One would think that it being a Disney movie it would be better._

_Anyways, Iron Man for the win._

_L._

**_Why does everyone in my life likes Marvel better than DC? DC makes rounds around Marvel’s characters. (I’ll admit MCU is somewhat better than some DC films). But as I said before, to each their own._ **

**_Kudos for the pun, it made me snort and Silex scolded me from her place._ **

**_And yeah, I noticed Thanos lacked weight in the last one. But I’ll admit it was… kind of cool. I’m still with DC, though._ **

**_How’s your assignment for Animation going?_ **

**_M_**.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m home.” Calum shouted as he closed the door behind himself, kicking off his shoes and picking them up as he padded his way to his room. He didn’t have to wait long before Luke appeared on his door.

“How was it?”

“Actually… Great.” Calum reluctantly admitted. “Kev’s happy, the team’s happy. We can move _on_. Finally.” He laughed, still not believing it.

It had taken over a month and a half since Ashton joined the team before they were ready for the next phase, but Calum was glad to say they had finally reached it. With no apparent complaints from anyone, which was a blessing. He didn’t want to think it was only because of Ashton, but Calum had to admit that the older’s presence and his character and the way he dealt with Kevin had played a huge part in the designs finally being approved. Ashton was just a fucking ray of sunshine, so nice and hardworking that not even Kevin could say anything bad about his work. So, Calum was happy he had managed to get him on board.

He was also _miserable_. Because throughout the time he had been working with Ashton, the mild crush he had gotten just upon meeting him had done nothing but grow bigger. And it was just Calum’s luck that he and Ashton got on so well that the older spent now most of the days with him and Luke at lunch break, his afternoons hanging with Calum, either in the library or at the younger’s place, playing video games. They had even gone out for drinks a couple more times, without the _team_ , just them. Also, McDonald’s after they got back from uni had become a _thing,_ and Calum knew it had to be fate messing with him, because all of those ‘hang outs’ just seemed an awful lot like dates to him. And Calum knew very well they _weren’t_.

Like a couple of weeks back, when Ashton invited him to that classmate’s exhibition opening. Calum knew he had been Ashton’s last resort, Luke had told him the older had invited him first, and even knowing _that_ Calum’s heart still had lurched when Ashton asked him. Calum had thoroughly hated his pathetic self and his stupid crush at that moment. And the rest of that night hadn’t gone exactly _right_. He had faked being tired, to make up for his lack of conversation, when in reality he had just been way too anxious to be sitting next to Ashton, to be out for dinner with him. And it was stupid, because there was nothing in Ashton’s behaviour that pointed out for their outings to be anything else than complete platonic. And yet Calum got increasingly nervous each time he made Ashton break out into giggles.

Luke had started to get suspicious too. Asking questions. Pestering Calum about spending so much time with Ashton when he _knew_ –he had been the one to warn Calum after all– that Ashton didn’t want anything. But he still drilled Calum every day with questions. That afternoon was no different.

“Did you guys stay for dinner after the meeting?” Luke asked casually, walking up to Calum’s bed and sitting down as he looked around the room.

“Just me and Ash, we hit McDonald’s again.” Calum answered, getting on his sweats and picking up his sketchbook from his backpack, fishing out some inkpens. He felt like drawing for a while. “I’m beginning to feel unhealthy, with all the times I’m eating there though.” He laughed as he took a seat against the headrest.

“With Ashton.” Luke said.

“Yeah.” Calum nodded, mindlessly as he flipped through the pages looking for a blank one.

He flipped the last two quickly, almost forgetting _which_ sketches were there, praying Luke hadn’t seen because he didn’t want any more interrogation fuel than what he had just given the blonde.

And surely, Luke asked, “What’s going on with you two?”

Calum looked up from the sketchbook to sent Luke a look, but the younger was smirking, wiggling his eyebrows. It made Calum roll his eyes and sigh.

“We’re just friends, geesh.” He grunted. “Ash doesn’t see me like that. You _know_ that.” He added in a quieter voice.

“But you do, see him like that.” Luke said, and it wasn’t a question. Calum just kept fixing his gaze on him, not agreeing or denying the claim. If he stayed silent, maybe Luke would leave him alone. Except… “You do, even after knowing it’s a dead-end street?”

“Leave me alone, Luke.” Calum muttered, breaking the gaze and picking up a pen, starting to trace some undefined lines on the paper. He didn’t even know what to draw, just knew he didn’t want to have this conversation with Luke, and neither did he want to keep having Luke’s worried eyes on him.

He felt Luke reach for his calf, squeezing it, even if a bit hesitant. “No, I won’t.” He declared. “You’re clearly going through something with him, and you don’t talk to me anymore.”

“I’m not going through _anything_.” Calum denied, even when he knew Luke wouldn’t believe the lie. He hadn’t noticed the way he was scratching way too harshly at the paper until he felt it ripping underneath the pens, dropping it and sighing. He took a deep breath as he felt Luke squeeze minimally tighter, as if to show him some support. Calum appreciated him, but… This was something that was just happening in his head, not really anything Luke should be concerned about. “It’s just teenage angst, alright?” He finally muttered, scrunching up his face before he met Luke’s eyes.

“You’re not a teenager anymore.” His friend smirked at him, and it made Calum’s lips quirk up just a bit. A tiny bit.

“But I’m certainly acting like one.” He laughed mirthlessly, shaking his head at his own behaviour. He didn’t recall being like this over someone since secondary school. Luke patted him twice on his calf before taking away his hand, letting himself fall against the bed, staring up at the ceiling. It made Calum look up, smiling at the Batman flag. He forgot it was there most of the time.

“So you admit you _do_ like Ashton.” Luke insisted.

“You didn’t hear me say those words.”

“But you do.” Luke chuckled lightly. “Look, I’m not saying anything just… Calum, I told you from the start… He…”

“I bloody well _know_ , Luke.” Calum grunted out, groaning after. “I can’t do anything to help it, okay?” He added quietly.

 He had tried telling himself to stop crushing on Ashton, but it didn’t work like that. And it was even worse when the older kept texting him dumb jokes and kept paying for their McFlurry’s and kept suggesting hanging out. Calum couldn’t really control his heart, even less if Ashton didn’t stop being so damn _nice_ to him. He felt some tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes, and he quickly blinked, not wanting to make more of this than what actually was. So he opted for changing the focus of the conversation.

“It’s not like you can be one to talk, you know?” He gently kicked Luke. “All those little notes? It’s been going on for a _month._ Ashton tells me they’re longer each day.”

“Shut up.” Luke muttered, and just from his tone of voice, Calum knew he was flustered.

“You’re _blushing_ , Luke.” He jested.

“You’re not even looking at my face.”

It made Calum chuckle, before he let himself fall opposite Luke, still looking up at the ceiling. “You’re still blushing.” He added with a smirk.

Luke’s knees were right around his line of vision, but he still craned the neck sufficiently to check he was right. He didn’t have to wait to long for Luke to admit it out loud too.

“I am…” He said between his teeth before letting out an exaggerated sigh. “We’re stupid, aren’t we?”

That made Calum break out into laughter. “Kinda, yeah…”

Luke joined him, chuckling silently as he threw an arm over his face, and Calum let himself relax against the bed again. He adored romantic comedies, but pinning away and unrequited crushes in real life were shit. He had always hated that. And this time it wasn’t different.

“You could try, with Ash.” Luke whispered, poking him on his thigh.

“I told you, he doesn’t see me that way.” Calum repeated for the third time, holding himself up with his elbows as he peered down at Luke. “And I think he knows that I, um… I-” Calum stopped himself, feeling his cheeks heating up. He couldn’t even bring himself to say it out loud. “He knows about me, I think.” Calum finally finished, Luke meeting his gaze and arching his eyebrows. “He would’ve said something if he did see me _that_ way. I don’t think I’ve been subtle. And he hasn’t addressed it. He doesn’t see me that way.”

“I’m… actually not sure he doesn’t.” Luke said, sitting up. He looked to be remembering something, frowning before he looked back to Calum. “He _flirts_ with you, I’ve seen him. I don’t know if he does it on purpose, but calling you _boss_ all the time is not exactly…” Luke stopped, raising his eyebrows. It made Calum laugh. “Plus he keeps calling you cute.” Luke added. And that made it worse, Calum’s heart giving a somersault at it. “Must be confusing, knowing he doesn’t want…” The blonde trailed off.

“ _Hella confusing_.” Calum breathed. It was confusing. Because he didn’t know where he stood. He was happy with just a friendship, he liked hanging out with Ashton. But… sometimes it was difficult for him because Ashton made it seem like he had a mild interest in him. And Calum knew that just wasn’t possible.

“Maybe he changed his mind about relationships?” Luke suggested, but Calum quickly shook his head.

“Don’t, Luke.” He said. “Please don’t give my stupid brain a reason to not let me let go of my stupid fucking crush.”

Luke nodded, biting his lip. “Okay, I won’t.”

Calum felt the need to cry again, but he suppressed it once more, changing the topic to Luke’s own mess. Less messy than Calum’s, that was for sure.

“You could try meeting the Clifford guy, though.”

“Why?” Luke snorted. “I’m not even sure that’s a thing.” He added slowly.

It made Calum chuckle, still in awe of how much Luke was in denial. It was even worse than him with Ashton.

“Well, you can always write him something _suggestive_ and see how he reacts.” He smirked, and it made Luke sputter.

“I don’t even _know_ him in person, Cal.” He said, blushing.

“And yet, you’re crushing on him.”

It did nothing but further Luke’s blush, him diverting his gaze from Calum’s and letting his back crash against the bed.

“We’re two fucking idiots.”

Calum snorted before copying him.

“Yeah, we are.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_So, I was googling the other day for jokes, but I seem to have run out of them. There are no more jokes I can translate to paper for you. But I thought of another thing that may make you laugh and your day less boring, you ready? Here we go:_

_This is a list of the most horrible pick up lines I have found (I’m truly bored this morning, and the results were right next to the jokes):_

_If I was Justice and you were Batman, we’d be in a League of our own_

_You make me feel like Bruce Wayne’s parents when you’re not around – Dead._

_This one’s the worst, who would even want to speak to you after that opening?_

_And, my personal favourite:_

_Boy, you’re making all of Gotham city afraid, cause you’re the BOMB!_

_Please, consider this my offer of daily entertainment. (Don’t stop talking to me please hahahhahah)_

_L._

 

**_Phew, there was some truly horrible stuff in that last note, wasn’t there? But you accomplished your mission, I cackled when I read the last one hahahahah. And I think I’d actually respond positively to that if someone were to use it on me ;P_ **

**_Okay, game on. Let’s see if I can find a better pick up line for ya ;P ;P_ **

**_I don’t have the time today, though :( Silex is already killing me with her gaze as I write this. I’ll try to have something for tomorrow. Sorry the note’s short, Luke. Hope you have a nice morning anyway :)_ **

**_Thanks for the note, it really made my morning better._ **

**_M._ **

* * *

 

“... and that’s why you should try to tighten up this movement here.” Silex pointed at the screen as she moved the animation back and forth. “It would give more time for the resting pose, and would allow the viewer more time to process the emotion the character’s portraying.”

“Okay, noted.” Luke said, jotting it down quickly. “So I should hold poses for longer and then do the clean up between them?”

“Exactly.” She smiled when Luke met her gaze. “But your work is good, Luke. This is a good blocking.”

“Yeah?” Luke asked, frowning. He wasn’t too sure about them, having rushed through the last couple of them.

“Yeah. It is.” Silex nodded again. “I’d move on to splines after you tight up the timing.”

“Okay, then.” Luke beamed at her.

He had been horrified about having to ask for feedback. He knew he had rushed those poses. A couple of weeks back with the previous scene it had happened the same thing, and even when neither Silex nor Lily had said something about it, it had still loomed over his head. Because he could see the rushness of them. Couldn’t unsee the imperfections he knew were there. But as Silex continuously told him, he would just have to know that everyone had those same imperfections when showing up their first versions of their work. It was impossible not to. And since Luke started attending more dailies, he had begun to realise that. Even the seniors from the Animation department had errors that Luke was able to point out right away. But they still presented their work every day, submitted it to criticism and grew from it. It would still take some time for Luke to completely get comfortable with the idea of showing his work before it was finished, but he knew he was getting there. And it started with asking for feedback from Ashton or Silex. He had been doing it for years with Calum, and he was learning that not because these people he worked with had a higher level than his it would mean they would laugh in his face. 

Silex was still hanging over his shoulder as he closed put the cap on his pen. She was staring at… Shit. Luke hurried to plant his hand firmly over Michael’s notes on his desk, laughing nervously when Silex started smirking down at him, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses.

“What’s that you got there, Hemmings?” She asked casually, but her smirk meant she knew more about what Luke was trying to cover up than she wanted to let on.

It wasn’t like Michael’s notes –or his own, in any case– were… not suitable for work. Luke just felt that lately they had taken a turn to more private stuff, apart from the pick up lines, and honestly he didn’t want anyone to read them. Even if they kept them on plain sight at all times. Fuck. Luke hadn’t thought about that. If anyone else had read them it would be so, _so_ bad. Well, not _bad_ bad, but _goodbye privacy_ bad.

“Luke?” Silex pressed, her smirk growing.

And Luke just sighed, letting go of the notes and covering his face instead.

“It’s just some notes between me and Clifford. To pass the time.” He mumbled, peering between his fingers to watch Silex’s reaction.

“Oh, that’s _still_ a thing?” Silex asked, her eyebrows raised. And then she started chuckling, darting her eyes towards Ashton before she leaned on the desk, her face in her hands and her elbows on the edge. “Are you like… into each other? Oh my god, is this the start of an office romance?” She asked excitedly.

“What? No!” Luke quickly denied, and he hated himself because he could feel his cheeks heating up, and he was sure his face had to be cherry red. “Shut up, Silex.” He muttered, adding more firmly, “It’s not like _that_.”

“You have a pick up lines tab opened up, Hemmings.” Silex arched her eyebrow at him, her whole face lightening up as she wiggled her eyebrows.

“That’s just-. We’re just-.” Luke tried twice, but somehow he kept tripping over his words. One look across the desk and he saw Ashton was hanging on to every word, silently giggling and not at all helpful even when he knew Luke didn’t leave notes with that purpose. They had talked about it. It was just a manner to pass time. He turned back to Silex, still grinning at him like she had been given the greatest news ever. He hurried to explain what it really was about. “It’s a _competition_ , to see who finds the worst pick up line. It’s _funny_.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” Silex laughed, leaning back as she shared yet another look with a smug-looking Ashton.

“I haven’t even _seen_ Michael. Ever.” Luke insisted, feeling the burn in his cheeks.

“Oh. So you’re on a first name basis now?” Silex prodded, laughing even harder.

“Luke, you’re blushing.” Ashton piped in.

“Not helpful, Ashton.”

“Awww, our little boy has a crush, Ashton.” Silex said as she stood up and walked over to Ashton, both of them staring at Luke like proud parents.

“They grow up so fast.” Ashton added, feigning a tear falling from his eye as he joined in on the fun. Well, fun for _them_.

“Leave me alone, you two.” Luke whined. “ _Please_.”

“I actually think you’d make a cute couple.” Silex said, the joking tone completely gone from her voice, instead her regular voice back.

It still made Luke groan in his place, letting his face fall against his desk and hitting it repeatedly.

“Sil.” Ashton said quietly, but Luke still heard it.

“Okay. _Okay_. I’ll leave you two to work.” Luke heard Silex say, making him raise his head to see she was looking a bit apologetic. But not so much when she leaned in to Ashton’s ear and whispered, “Keep me posted.”

“I _heard_ that.” Luke grunted.

Ashton was still looking at him from the other side of the desk, clearly trying to keep in his laughter as Silex went back to her place, leaving them both alone. At last. Luke thank every deity he didn’t believe in that no one from Rigging nor Desmond or John were there, all summoned to an interdepartmental meeting.

“Save it.” He spat to Ashton.

“But the story’s way too cute, Luke.” The older insisted, those giggles of his that were so contagious making Luke even more irritated. So irritated that he didn’t even think before he blurted out the first thing that came to mind, even if he knew Ashton probably didn’t deserve the attack.

“Yeah, like _you_ and _Calum_ pining after each other when you each think the other’s not into it. The _cutest_ story ever.”

He could see the colour draining out of Ashton’s face along with his laughter, his expression growing serious in a split second. Serious and another thing Luke couldn’t pinpoint.

“That’s not-.” Ashton said loudly and then stopped himself like he had just realised his tone of voice. “I’m not _into_ Calum.” He added more quietly.

Luke just raised his eyebrows and sent him a _look_ , trying to convey he didn’t believe Ashton’s words for a second. Calum could say all he wanted. He was in the situation, so he of course he couldn’t see it clearly. But Luke was an outsider, and he could see it clear as day. Ashton liked Calum, at least to some degree. And he _did_ flirt with him. _Every day_. And Luke had just had enough of watching Calum come back from his ‘hang outs’ with Ashton with his shoulders slumped and no words coming out of his mouth.

He kept his eyes fixed on Ashton, clearly waiting for the older to admit it out loud. When the older started blushing, Luke knew he had won.

“I am _not_.” Ashton repeated as he looked down to his desk, his cheeks still a brilliant red.

“You can say whatever you want, Ash.” Luke sighed. “I just hope you know what you’re doing, because Cal–”

“I _know_.” Ashton cut him, like he knew what Luke had been just about to tell him, and hadn’t wanted to hear it out loud. Hadn’t wanted to hear that Calum _did_ like him. “I’ll stop hanging out with him.” The older muttered, his eyes falling to his desk as he drew in on himself.

“That’s _not_ what I meant, like, _at all_.” Luke shook his head.

Ashton looked back at him at that, taking a deep breath. Luke knew he wasn’t stupid. Ashton must have known what Luke was implying. And he just confirmed it when he said, “I believe I told you I don’t do–”

“Relationships?” Luke cut in. “Yeah, you did.” He added, letting his slight anger at Ashton take hold of his voice. But then he saw Ashton’s troubled expression, and he dialled it back down. He didn’t want to cause more any animosity between them, Luke liked having Ashton as a friend. He sighed, closing his eyes before saying, “Doesn’t seem like you do a good job of letting other people know, though.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, okay?” Ashton muttered. He really looked contrite.

“It’s not me who you’re leading on.” Luke pressed. He couldn’t help it.

“I’m not leading him on.”

“You never come out of denial, do you?” Luke frowned at him. “You flirt with him, Ash. Every single day.”

He saw the hurt flashing out behind Ashton’s eyes, making him feel bad about him. “That’s why I have to stop hanging out with him. I can’t help it.” Ashton said, rubbing his face. “I know I’m hurting him.”

Luke was about to say something else, but he stopped before it came out of his mouth, taking a deep breath instead, letting it out slowly.

“You could just give in and let go of your whatever.” Luke suggested quietly.

Ashton looked at him over their desks, an unreadable expression on his face before he answered, “I don’t know, Luke.”

* * *

 

_Are you a front or a Butt man? Asking for a friend. (I know it’s a horrible pun, but it sounded better in my head hahahhaah)_

_Loved to hear Silex saying you’re moving on to the next part of the code! Also, she stopped looking like a raccoon, so I guess that’s thanks to the help you’ve been giving her?_

_Hope you’re having a nice day and the afternoon goes on smoothly._

_L._

**_Are you trying to get under my dark cape with that joke, Mr Hemmings? This is most inappropriate for the workplace :OO_ **

**_And I don’t know about helping her, but at least, we’re dividing the amount of caffeine in between two, so there’s that. Good luck with dailies tomorrow :)_ **

**_M._ **

****

_When was it established you were Batman and you had a cape? I don’t recall such a nonsensical thing. Unless you agree to my previous joke. And even then, at most, you might be Alfred._

_Dailies was terrifying, I absolutely hate showing my work when it’s incomplete. But your note made me smile, thanks :3_

_L._

**_But you were the one who called me Batman last week :( And if you read the notes from that week you will see you were the Joker and I was Batman. Just thought we could keep that up._ **

**_Although, calling you the Joker would make you my nemesis, and I don’t like the sound of that. And also a psychopath. I don’t know if I see you as a psychopath anymore. You’re far too nice for that. But yeah, calling me Batman? Let’s keep that up ;P_ **

**_M._ **

****

_Keep what up? Your Dark Knight? ;P_

_L._

**_Luke, please, this is an office. Besides, m’not exactly dark. Very light skin me. Picture a vampire. With some tats. _ **

**_M._ **

****

_Oh, you sparkle when the sun shines on you? ;P_

_Isn’t it weird that we don’t even know what the other looks like? It seems so strange to me._

_L._

**_Does it bother you? Unless_ ** _you **are the Alfred and I’m being catfished. Are you catfishing me?**_

**_M._ **

****

_For catfishing there would have to be an underlying intention of getting under your cape, Batman._

_L._

* * *

It had already been close to two months since the offer, only one to go of his internship, and Michael was no closer to know what to do about it. Ashton had stopped offering advice after a while, seemingly noticing that even when Michael appreciated, he wanted _–needed–_ to figure it out on his own. Michael loved him to pieces, but… Even when he wished to leave the decision on the hands of someone else, he wasn’t going to put that in anyone else’s conscience.

Carving had become kind of his escape route every time he started growing more anxious about the offer, his mind peacefully setting onto a blank space as he focused his attention on the wood and the designs. He had even been making another birthday present for Ashton, during the nights he couldn’t sleep. Because that had been happening a lot too. Sleepless nights. Probably due to his mind never stopping going rounds around the offer and his future and his lack of motivation for anything. So he just spent those carving. Trying to keep his mind calm.

His schedule was packed full lately though. Michael had had to pick up his dead weight in his classes so he didn’t fuck up last minute. And then he had Hourglass, where he was staying overtime every day. Not because he was required to do so, but because he knew if he didn’t, the workload would rest solely on Silex’ shoulders and he didn’t think that was fair. And then he wasn’t even seeing Ashton much. When he arrived home, either Ashton had already had dinner or he was out with Calum. There was something definitely going on there, but his and Ashton’s schedules hadn’t aligned for at least a ten days, and Michael was left in the dark about it. He supposed if anything major happened, Ashton would just tell him.

Another thing that was happening –or not happening– were Luke’s notes. They had stopped. And it was due to Michael’s inability to bring himself to reply to them. At first it had been because Luke’s joke about him not having an interest in Michael in _that_ way had stung. And Michael had been furious at himself for actually having let himself develop some sort of interest in this guy he didn’t know, whom he had never met face to face. Because it was just another thing to worry about. And Michael had enough of those already. So he had just stopped communication altogether. There had been several notes from Luke after that, trying to get him to answer again, and Michael stared at them every day at Hourglass, read them once and time again, a weird weight settling in in his heart. Because after two months of them, Michael had just realised that there was a real person on the other side of them after that joke. And he had affected Michael in a way he had never expected. And Michael knew he was affecting the other boy’s life by not replying, too.

He still kept them on his desk, as a reminder. He didn’t know of what, though.

_Mike? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that._

_L._

_You know I didn’t mean it like that; it was just banter. Damn, I really like writing these notes but paper sometimes fucks up the meaning of things. I’m sorry. Please talk to me again? I miss our chats._

_L._

_I hope you’re doing good. Have a nice afternoon._

_L._

That last one hurt the most, because Luke had reverted back to politeness, and it just read strange to Michael. And he missed their chats. He missed the laughter Luke’s occurrences and puns and pick up lines brought out of him. Because they had become the only bright thing in his day-to-day life at the Studio, and now Michael had cut them off. Only cause he felt scared of having a connexion with someone else. Someone real.

Ashton kept telling him –he did butt in in this matter– that he was being stupid, holding Luke at an arm’s length, not wanting to meet him in person. And Michael knew himself. He knew he was doing it because meeting Luke and him being real, tangible, would only make it worse. Plus, he trusted Ashton’s judgement, and the older had said right away that he was Michael’s type. Which meant, Michael would only crush on him harder. And even though it sounded desirable, to have someone in his life like that again,... It also sounded like it would take too much space, too much of Michael’s mind. And he needed this last month to focus on his answer.

And yet…

He missed Luke. He missed writing out his thoughts and having weird competitions. Ashton had also said Luke was one of the most inspiring people he had ever known, working tirelessly, his passion fuelling his hours at Hourglass. And Michael needed some of that. He hadn’t talk to Silex, but maybe… Maybe he could talk to Luke.

That afternoon when he got to the Studio he looked at the notes again, took a deep breath, and then some piece of paper and pen. And he just wrote.

**_Sorry I haven’t written in a while. My life is… a bit messy right now. I’m a bit messy. And I don’t even know why I’m telling you this when we haven’t even met, but I feel like maybe I can trust you. Which is so weird._ **

**_I have talked about this with my best friend, and he suggested I tell Silex, but… I don’t know. And I’m just…_ **

**_Do you ever feel like, working at Hourglass is too… restricting? Or like it’s cage-ing your future? I am… so fucking bored all the time here. And I used to love animation but now I can’t even stand watching it. But Chris, I suppose you know him too, offered me staying after I finish my internship. On an actual paying job. And I don’t know if I should take it. What would you do if you were me?_ **

****

**_P.S.: I’m sorry for the info dump. Feel free not to answer._ **

**_P.S.S.: I didn’t have time to find a pick up line for you, but know that I’m always thinking of new ones. I’ve missed reading you. Truly. Hope you’re having the greatest day._ **

**_M._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you thought!!!! I'm nervous about this one O.o


	7. Beat for Beat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, again, this took way longer than I anticipated, so sorry for that 😔😔 Life's busy right now, psych class is killing me, but I definitely want to finish this soon-ish.  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! :3

_I don’t know what to tell you Michael. But I’m really sorry that you’re feeling like that :(_

_For me working here is… yeah, monotone at times, but I feel rewarded by the finished project, because even if other people don’t understand how much of our time we spend in just a 3 second sequence –they never do, do they?–, in my heart I know I did it, and I know people I admire will see and appreciate my time behind them._

_When I first started here, I had a slightly uncomfortable nickname. You know what that was? They called me the ‘new Clifford’. I hated it. I didn’t want to be compared to anyone. But with time I realised most of the people who did weren’t being mean –except for Grant from Layout. He can fuck off–. They all saw you as this bright addition to Hourglass. It kind of motivated me. Because if they were calling me the new you, I had to show them I could match up, you know? Hahahahah_

_After months here I’ve realised I can’t match up to you, because I think our strengths lie in different skills. But, I know you’re great at this, you have a gift._

_And you know what? That whole thing I just wrote you means shit if you don’t enjoy what you do. Because that’s the first thing that made me want to improve was passion to get better at what I love._

_You don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t like it. If you don’t love it. It wouldn’t work in the long run because, sorry, but I think you’d just get stuck. _

_So I wouldn’t take the offer. Even if I’m sure the department will miss you. Even if Silex will probably die under a ton of work –let’s pray they fucking hire someone else for the department, right?–._

_You need to learn where you heart lays, so you can grow and improve in that field, whatever it is._

_And okay wow, that took a philosophical turn. Sorry for that haha. But know that Silex and the whole department know your effort and your value. And I don’t think Silex would hesitate to usher you somewhere else if she knew about this. She wouldn’t be disappointed, if that’s what you’re afraid of._

_I’m sorry again for the philosophical hahha Hope you don’t cringe too much at it. And don’t worry for the info dump, I welcome it._

_We’re kind of friends, aren’t we?_

_Hope you have a good afternoon. Talk soon,_

_L._

“Okay, that has to be the longest note you’ve ever written.” Ashton cut into his thoughts as Luke finished folding it and writing Michael’s name on the top. He added a little bat just for the hell of it. It felt weird not to reference Batman somehow.

“It kind of is, yeah.” Luke said after a beat, frowning.

“What’s it about?” Ashton piped in. “Hadn’t Mik–. Clifford stopped replying?”

“Yeah, he did.” Luke frowned even more at Ashton seemingly having caught himself in the last moment before he said Michael. There was something happening there and Luke wasn’t entirely sure what it was. So he continued anyway, trying to see if Ashton reacted in any other way that could point Luke in the right direction. “He’s… I don’t think he’s going through a good time. He asked for advice on something.” Luke answered, blinking before he looked across the desk at Ashton.

“Oh.” The older let out. He had a weird look on his face.

Luke squinted at him. Ashton had had that look a _lot_ all the times Luke had been writing the notes, and paired with his curiosity and the questions he always asked, it lead Luke to suspect Ashton had to somehow know Michael. He _had_ to. Luke hadn’t brought it up yet because neither had Ashton, for some reason. But Luke knew for sure they had to know each other at least a little. Luke didn’t think Ashton would have taken such an interest if that weren’t the case.

“How are things going with the game?” Luke asked instead, trying to change the topic. It was too early for his brain to try to decipher how Michael and Ashton were linked. “I barely see Calum anymore. He’s always at uni.”

“Um, I guess things are going alright now.” Ashton frowned. “Since they approved the designs I haven’t been in that much. Only for retouches or artwork. They’ve moved on to rigging my designs.” Ashton beamed up.

It was cute, watching him being so happy about his contribution to the project. Luke was glad he had let Calum convince him of introducing them. Speaking of, “You’ve met Calum outside of that?”

Ashton froze at the comment, his eyes darting up to meet Luke’s before he glanced away again.

“Not that much lately, no.” He admitted in a low voice.

“Oh.”

Luke thought Calum was still hanging out with him. At least he had assumed so, because Calum kept saying he had had dinner on the way home, insisting he was putting on weight –a stupid arse lie, if Luke was asked. Calum was as fit as he had always been–. Luke had just thought he was still hitting up McDonald’s with Ashton.

“I’m sorry.” He said out loud, for Ashton to hear. Luke still felt kind of bad for chewing him out last time he brought up the Calum topic.

“What about?” Ashton asked, a slight giggle coming out of his mouth.

“You know, for what I said that day.” Luke winced, scratching his neck as he sent an apologetic smile towards the older. “About you and Calum.”

“We haven’t stopped hanging out or talking because of that.” Ashton giggled, shaking his head. “He has just been mighty busy, trying to trick and recruit animators to work for free for the next phase.”

Luke was about to say something else when Ashton continued.

“Look, you were right about _some_ things.” The older admitted, looking down at his desk. “But… it also stung a little, being told off by you.” Ashton looked back up to him, letting out a small chuckle. “I guess Calum’s just lucky to have you watching out for him.”

“I wouldn’t call that _luck_.” Luke grimaced. It was true he had been worried about Calum, but the real way he had lashed out was because, “I was just pissed off at you and Silex for laughing at me about the notes.” He finished his thought out loud.

“One, we weren’t laughing _at_ you.” Ashton held up a finger, laughing as he adjusted his glasses. “We were just messing with you because your reactions are way too cute not to.”

“Shut up.” Luke mumbled, feeling his cheeks heating up.

“And two, Calum _is_ lucky to have you as a friend. Anyone would be, the way you stood up for him.” Ashton smiled at him. “I know _I_ am.”

“Shut up.” Luke repeated, the heat on his cheeks increasing, but this time he was also chuckling.

“I mean it.” Ashton stressed.

Luke felt weirdly flustered. He hadn’t really ever thought of himself as that good a friend, but in hindsight, he _had_ been pretty upset on Calum’s behalf. The dark-haired boy was Luke’s best friend, and he had been his _only_ friend throughout the time when Luke still thought he couldn’t find friends that liked him enough to stick around. Maybe that was why he felt so strongly about someone messing with him. Because Ashton had been messing with him, however unintentionally it may have been. And it was weird for Luke, finding himself in the position of having to make Ashton confront his actions. After the way he had spoken to him, Luke would have expected some coldness from him, but Ashton had just appeared contrite and as sweet as usual.

He chanced a look up and saw the older boy in question now biting his lip, his hands nervously tapping on the desk. Luke also spied something in his eyes, but he couldn’t see exactly what. Ashton finally whispered, like he didn’t actually want to say it out loud. “You made me think about a lot of things, Luke.”

He looked up from the desk that time and was Luke surprised to find a slight blush covering Ashton’s cheeks. He gasped, leaning forward, his eyes bulging out. “Wait... Does that mean…?”

“It doesn’t mean _anything_.” Ashton shook his head. “Hold your horses because I didn’t say anything. I just said I spent the past week or so thinking some shit over.”

“About you and Calum.” Luke added, an excited grin on his face. He didn’t know why, but the prospect of something like this finally going right for Calum was making him giddy.

The dark-haired boy had had his fair share of crushes and disappointments since Luke had met him. Some people he had set his eyes on had been decent enough, some had made Luke roll his eyes at Calum and his unhealthy tendencies. But Ashton was sound, Luke thought. Something great could come out of that.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” Ashton finally sighed, rubbing his eyes as he tried to hide a small smile.

“But I’m right.” Luke said smugly.

“It was mostly about myself.” Ashton corrected him. Then he grimaced before adding quietly, “And it may not happen, what I guess you’re you’re thinking.”

“We’ll see.” Luke said as he let himself rest against his chair again, smirking at Ashton.

But Ashton was regarding him weirdly again, slightly frowning. “You know, my best friend actually said that exact same thing. _‘We’ll see.’_ ”

“Then I guess your best friend and I just have to be right about it.” Luke laughed.

They spent the rest of the morning until their break focusing on their work, sparsely commenting or talking to each other as they tried to concentrate. Luke was actually falling a bit behind on his own schedule. He had tried to make a calendar for himself to follow, unbeknownst to Silex and Lily. It meant more stress for him, because most often than not he ended up being disappointed that he couldn’t meet his own goals, but it helped spur him along and making him try to work harder and faster.

He had already turned in one of the scenes they had assigned to him. For his relief, dailies had gone well, Chris _–_ the Director of Animation himself _–_ had actually congratulated him, and only that had served as motivation to get through the first stages of the second scene he would have to turn in. This time it was even more difficult. More characters, more action. And at first Luke had been terrified, thinking he wouldn’t be able to do it, but Chris’s words and Silex’s daily encouragement had helped him through it. He just needed to fucking get over this problem he had found when changing the curves from stepped to splines.

“You look like you need a rest.” He heard Ashton pipe in from his seat as the older got up. “Care for a coffee break?”

Luke nodded vehemently, turning off the computer screen and grabbing his phone and wallet. The break room wasn’t exactly a room, only a bigger space down the main hallway where some vending machines served as a cafeteria. Luke kind of liked it anyway, because there was an awfully comfortable sofa right in front of them. Until Ashton, he had never really taken a proper break from working.

“So.” Ashton started, his tone cautious as he inserted some coins on the slot for his daily vanilla coffee. “... How’s the project going?”

“I think it’s good.” Luke answered right away, because in truth, it _was_ going well. “But there’s a part where it hit gimbal lock and I’m trying to rectify it.” He admitted in a low voice as he let himself crash against the sofa.

“Can’t you access a prior file?” Ashton asked turning to look at him.

“I’ll try.” Luke had thought of that, he was just trying to exhaust all possibilities before he had to say goodbye at all the progress he had already worked on. “I just hope I have enough time to solve it before I have to show it at dailies at the end of the day after tomorrow.”

“Shit.” Ashton turned back around with his coffee in his hand, bringing it closer to his mouth and sucking on his finger. Luke wanted to laugh, but he contained it. Ashton burning himself when he touched his coffee was almost a daily occurrence now. The older finally looked back at him as he took a seat next to Luke on the sofa. “If you need any help…”

“Thanks, Ash.” Luke smiled. “I think I can manage for now, but you’re nice to offer.”

“Oh yeah, the _nicest_.” He snorted.

The rest of the morning went by quickly. Luke didn’t know if he was just losing time trying to correct his mistake on the current project, but it had been the fastest way he could think of that would let him present his work on Friday. So he had to try. If he didn’t make it, well… He supposed he could always ask for help. Ashton had already offered, and maybe Michael would be able to give him some pointers. Although Luke didn’t want to bother him with it. He could talk to Silex, but that felt a bit like admitting defeat to Luke, so he left it as a last resort. He’d try to do it on his own, he felt like he had to be able to sort it out by himself, for some reason. He just hoped he wasn’t fucking up too much.

 

* * *

 

 

“You’re going out?” Luke asked as he heard Calum running down the hall, hopping on one leg as he tried to fit into the tightest jeans Luke had ever seen on him. “I thought you just came back.”

“I did.” Calum said. He was kind of breathless. “I’m meeting Ashton for some additional work we need to be able to qualify for this contest. It’s a fuck load of money and we need it.”

“Oh.” Luke frowned. He had been hanging out with Ashton after lunch, and he had never mentioned anything. “When did this come up?”

“Kevin found it. The deadline is Saturday.” Calum breathed, and then he grumbled when he wouldn’t get the other leg up.

“That’s two days from now.”

“We _know_.” Calum stressed, finally sliding the rest of his jeans up and closing the button.

He looked awfully nice dressed for just a work marathon. He usually went to those in just a hoodie and some sweats. Luke squinted his eyes at him as Calum went into the bathroom and started trying to comb through his hair. That was weird. That was Calum readying for a party, not a casual hangout.

“You look… tidied up.” Luke said slowly.

“Do I?” Calum asked absentmindedly as he checked himself in the mirror. He was wearing one of those tees he favoured for partying when he was trying to pick up someone’s attention. The ones that were tight around his arms.

“You know you do.” Luke rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and staring at Calum through the mirror, waiting for him to actually admit what he had in mind for the night. Because Luke was sure it wasn’t just about that contest.

Calum’s dark eyes finally met his through the mirror before he looked down, letting out a sigh. When he turned around, there was a slight blush on his cheeks.

“I’m just…” He started, hesitant. “Ashton hasn’t really stopped flirting, and lately it’s been more than just teasing and such and…” He stopped to take a deep breath before adding. “I don’t know, I thought I could dress up a bit. Show him what he’s missing, change his mind.”

Luke stared at him for a moment, his thoughts immediately going back to his conversation with Ashton just a couple of mornings ago, and he shook his head, letting out a little laugh.

“Hey! There’s no need to laugh at my pathetic ass.” Calum complained. “I know it’s stupid. I ain’t got a chance.”

“I wasn’t laughing because of that.” Luke smiled. “You look smoking hot, by the way. I’m sure you’ll catch his eye.”

“Yeah?” Calum asked, nervously worrying his lip.

Luke just nodded, shaking his head again. “I assure you, Ashton’s already attracted to you. The thing that’s stopping him isn’t exactly not being _into you_.” Luke smiled, slightly amused.

Calum’s lips started to turn up into a smile before a frown took over his face, his index finger suddenly much closer to Luke’s face than the blonde would have liked.

“Wait. You know something.” Calum said accusingly. “You’ve talked to him?”

Luke uncrossed his arms and raised his right hand to move Calum’s out of the way before he answered calmly, “I did.”

“And?“ Calum demanded, stepping closer.

Luke was tempted to make a joke about his slightly obsessive behaviour, but he knew it wasn’t exactly the best moment.

“He just said he had been thinking some things over, about himself.” Luke shrugged. Ashton hadn’t really said anything definite. “He didn’t say anything else.”

“Oh.” Calum’s shoulders slumped again, his face falling as he sighed. “I’m pathetic, aren’t I? Still trying for something that I knew wouldn’t happen?”

“You’re not pathetic, Cal. You just have a crush.” Luke shrugged again.

“Yes, but sometimes I think about if I’m forcing it too much. I don’t want Ashton to feel uncomfortable.” He sighed again. “Like, I know what it’s like having someone you don’t want anything with still trying to get you.”

“I think if Ashton felt uncomfortable around you he would have said so.” Luke frowned. “Besides, it’s not like you’re flaunting yourself at him. Are you?” He arched an eyebrow at Calum.

“No! Of course not.” Calum replied, almost outraged that Luke would have thought such a thing. “I’m just flirting back, sometimes.” He added, before whispering, “I never initiate.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about.” Luke assured him.

“If you say so.”

Luke hated the expression on Calum’s face right then. It resembled the defeated Calum he had seen when almost everyone had quit the team, before Ashton. Now that he thought about it, it had been some time since the last time he saw the confident Calum he had gotten to know through all their years of friendship. He kind of missed it.

“Come on, lighten up.” He tried. “If nothing else, you actually got to know you Instagram idol. That has to count for something.” He joked, but Calum just sighed at him, not even a blush or a chuckle as an answer.

“I’m just thinking of all the hours of work we’re going to have to pull through.” Calum grimaced. “I think we’re going to McDonald’s, the one that doesn’t close. In case I don’t come back and you have to reclaim my dead body.”

Luke chortled, “I’ll be sure to have that in mind.”

“I’m seri–”

Just then their intercom rang a couple of times, and suddenly Luke saw the colour draining on Calum’s face.

“Shit.” He let out shakily. “I’m still not ready.”

“What the fuck does that mean? You’re dressed.” Luke snorted.

“I meant mentally.” Calum said, swallowing. Luke couldn’t stop his laughter even when Calum playfully slapped his arm, giving an annoyed, “Oi, shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Luke said between his bouts of laughter, but he promptly stopped when he saw the look of fear on Calum’s face hadn’t properly faded away. “Should I buzz him up? Wait with him until you _are_ mentally ready?”

“Please?” The dark-haired boy squeaked.

Luke shook his head, rolling his eyes as he walked to the door, picking up the intercom and saying brightly, “Come on up, Ash. Cal’s still getting ready.”

“ _Oh. Okay._ " Ashton’s voice came through the speaker, muffled.

He heard Calum scattering to his room, a prompt bang resonating in his ears as he closed the door, making Luke sigh. Ashton didn’t take much time up the stairs, the doorbell ringing soon enough.

What Luke found when he opened the door wasn’t exactly what he had expected.

“Wow, you look…” He trailed off.

“Like a mess. You can say it.” Ashton snorted, looking down at himself. He was wearing an ink-stained sweater, some joggers that had more splatters of paint than Luke could count and old trainers. The look was completed by a disconcerting dishevelled hair and what Luke supposed Ashton’s old glasses. They were an outrageous purple.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Luke asked frowning. He had never seen Ashton in such a state. He was always quite tidy about his appearance, at least when he came to Hourglass.

“Nothing much. I was working at home to get a lead on the sketches and long story short I didn’t see the time until I was going to be late. I kind of stepped on my glasses too. So now I’m a little blind.” He grimaced. “Besides, we’re just going to be working at a McDonald’s. Don’t think they’ll have a dress etiquette.”

They may not, but Calum was going to stick out like a sore thumb next to Ashton now, all dressed up.

“Ha. Hahah.” Luke let out nervously.  
Ashton squinted at him, but Calum’s steps on the hallway saved Luke from having to explain himself.

“Hey Ash.” The black-haired boy said when he was close enough. The smell of his cologne was a tad too much, and Luke scrunched up his face.

“Wow.” Ashton whispered. And it sounded so punched out that Luke had to turn to look at him. Sure enough, a blush was covering his cheeks and his mouth was hanging open as he stared in Calum’s direction. He seemed to catch himself after a few seconds, clearing his throat and saying with a strangled tone. “You clean up nicely, boss.”

Luke’s eyes turned to Calum then, the boy suddenly speechless and staring at Ashton like he hadn’t heard right. He bit his tongue, his eyes flicking between them as the silence stretched.

“Those pants must be hella uncomfortable.” Ashton finally commented, his eyes trained on Calum. There was something in his voice that told Luke that maybe Calum had won this round. It was even more confirmed when Ashton whispered, his voice low, “They’re _tight_.”

And then Luke had to give props to Calum, because he just shrugged nonchalantly as he said, “They’re all right.”

If he hadn’t known Calum for so long, he would have had the impression that the boy was calm and collected. But Luke knew him, and he knew he was anything _but_ right now.

“You’re not…” Ashton trailed off, swallowing before finishing his thought, “...changing into comfy clothes?”

“Oh.” Calum uttered. “Um. Eh…”

And that right there was Luke’s confirmation that he had read Calum right and he had to be freaking out right now.

“I swear Calum sleeps in those pants, Ash. I can tell you they’re comfy clothes for him.” Luke cut in, trying to give Calum some time to recover. He covertly winked at him before giving him a small clap on the back.

They were both looking at each other so mesmerised that Luke had to resist the urge to groan and force their heads together so they would kiss and finally sort their shit out.

“Okay, you go now.” He said instead and pushed Calum towards the door. “Lots of work to do. When you’re nearing death, please call.”

“We will _not_.” Calum stressed picking up his work bag and fulminating Luke even despite his prior plea for Luke to come looking for him if he didn’t show up in the morning.

“Die fighting, yeah?” Ashton choked out.

Luke could still see his blush, making him roll his eyes at them. Honestly, if Ashton ever tried to deny his attraction to Calum one more time, Luke was going to give him hell.

“Okay, let’s go.” Calum exhaled as he held the door open for Ashton. He too had a giant ass blush covering his whole face.

“Good luck!” Luke sent their way trying not to laugh as he closed the door, sticking his ear in it as soon as he could.

“I need to show you this really cool concept art that I started…” Ashton’s voice trailed off as they went on the elevator, Luke’s ears unable to pick up more.

Luke laughed quietly to himself as he trailed back to his own room, dreading the homework he had to go through and fearing the impending doom on his project at Hourglass. So he focused on digesting what had just happened on the flat.

Well. It had been kind of awkward to watch. But also _funny_. Calum was right, spectating someone else’s love life was entertainment at its best. It allowed Luke not to think of his own, as non-existent as it was. Well. There was Michael and Luke’s teeny tiny microscopic crush on him. Although he wasn’t sure if that was even a crush. Yeah, Luke thought about him almost on a daily basis. Yeah, he had been sort of moping around when Michael stopped answering him. But it was just because he missed the banter, right? He missed the somehow fun addition to his daily life at Hourglass. He didn’t know Michael in person, he couldn’t have a crush on him. Not a _real_ crush.

But… the feelings were kind of real. The happiness when he had seen the note that morning had been real, Michael establishing communication again. The worry and concern for Michael’s wellbeing that kept increasing as he was reading the note...those had been real. The person on the other end was real. Which made this whole thing even more complicated.

Neither of them had suggested meeting in person. And even when staying behind until the afternoon shift would be surprisingly easy, Luke felt like that would be kind of imposing on Michael. And now that he thought about it, the one who started the whole thing with the pickup lines had been him. Luke had started every single step of their communications. He started the flirting too. Oh _shit_. Was he imposing on the other boy? Like Calum had been fearing about him on Ashton? Oh fuck.

Luke had never stopped to think about that. Not even once. Not even when Michael called him a stalker and a little creepy because of the Joker calling card and the ‘ _Why so serious?_ ’ painted message. Oh _god_. But Michael wouldn’t have kept talking to him if he felt threatened in any way, right? Luke may have been insistent, but he didn’t think he had been pressuring the other lad. But now he feared he owed Michael an apology. He would definitely do that tomorrow on his next note. Apologise for being such a pain in the ass.

Because Luke hated to think he had caused Michael any trouble, not after knowing what the other boy was going through. He just wanted to be a friend to him. Maybe meeting him, yeah. Luke wanted that, badly. But he wouldn’t pressure Michael to it. Not now that he just realised just how unrelenting and maybe annoying he had been at the start, trying to get Michael to answer him. That would happen when it happened.

With a sigh, he glanced around his room. Its state could only be defined as messy. The floor was crawling with clothes and he couldn’t even see his desk underneath all the stuff he had been throwing on it during the past two weeks. So Luke sucked it up and started making a mental list of all the adulting stuff he probably should do. When it got to twenty items, he decided he should probably start right away. Homework and worrying about Hourglass would have to wait.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, those are _my_ nuggets.” Calum whined and slapped Ashton’s hand the third time the older tried to sneak one for himself.

“ _Please_?” Ashton pouted, his hand still underneath Calum’s. It made some feelings start to wake up inside of Calum’s chest, and Ashton’s pleading face wasn’t exactly making it better.

They had been at McDonald’s for over six hours now. At first they had just thrown around ideas on how to complete the artwork needed for the contest. Calum then had gone on to cover details that needed correcting on Ashton’s part of the design for a couple of characters. At that point, they had plugged in both their laptops and taken out their wacom’s and been working each on their own stuff for about another couple of hours before taking a break. Ashton had paid for McFlurrys then. Then yet another couple of hours had gone by, them comparing the work and trading spots, Ashton helping Calum redact the dossier they also needed to turn in. And then it had just been way past their dinner time. Calum had paid for that for them both.

It hadn’t been until about half past midnight that they had stopped again, moving on to just talking and generally discussing the project. And even though they still had a shit ton to cover, Calum knew they needed a breather, so he closed his laptop and told Ashton to do the same for a while as he got up to order some nuggets. Nuggets that now Ashton was trying to steal from him.

But his face was just so cute, his lips pouting and his eyes pleading that Calum couldn’t resist sliding the box towards him, defeated.

“Okay, you can take one.” He stressed his point by raising one finger, rolling his eyes at Ashton when the older took two, a slightly daring look in his eyes. “If you’re hungry, you should just get your own, Ash.”

“But this way they taste so much better, _boss_.” Ashton answered with a grin, throwing one whole into his mouth, not even stopping to swallow before he started talking again, “Well, the thing I was telling you about. The notes. Luke’s just writing novels now.”

“That bad, huh?” Calum chuckled.

“I don’t know, you know him better than I do.” Ashton shrugged. “But I think he’s developing some kind of real attachment.”

“Yeah.” Calum sighed, rubbing his eyes before leaning forward. “I know he is. I’ve told him he should maybe ask to meet this guy.” And then he frowned. He had tried putting himself in Luke’s position a handful of times, and yet he still didn’t understand how Luke could have developed a crush so hard so fast only via note, without really meeting the person on the other end. Even if Calum felt somehow responsible for how he had encouraged it. “I don’t know if I would trust myself to a complete stranger like Luke’s doing, though. Imagine if it was all just a prank, or if the dude who’s replying isn’t the guy Silex told him was interning in the afternoons.”

Ashton made a weird face at that before answering, “She said she’d seen the lad writing back.” He shrugged. “ And I’m sure he’s a good guy, if Silex vouches for him.”

Calum nodded, but he was still hinging on a thought.

“Anyway, it’s too risky, isn’t it?” He glanced up, asking Ashton as he looked him in the eye. “Crushing on someone like _that._ “

Ashton held his gaze for a moment before he looked away, clearing his throat right before he muttered. “Crushing on someone is risky by default, no matter the specifics.”

Well. He had a point there. Calum gave it to him, and yet… There was something in Ashton’s tone that made him question his thought out loud, even if Calum agreed with him.

“You think so?”

“Well, you never actually know about what that other person is thinking, right?” Ashton asked. He seemed to be avoiding Calum’s gaze, his eyes fixed in his hands at the table. “At that stage no one ever talks clearly about their feelings or thoughts out of fear. It’s always all just… dropping hints and casual flirting.”

“Huh.” Calum exhaled.

Was Ashton talking about himself right then? About...

“What?” The older cut into his thoughts, finally looking up.

Calum’s brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of what Ashton just said. “So you’ve never confessed to _any_ crush?”

“I’m not… I haven’t had many people in my life like that caught my eye that way.” Ashton answered slowly, but by some reason Calum was just now beginning to notice some pink covering his cheeks. “None of them sparked much.”

Calum nodded.

Well, it certainly confirmed what Luke had told him about Ashton, didn’t it? And this time Calum had heard from Ashton himself. So that at least should be of some use for his brain to finally let him get over his crush on Ashton.

After the way Ashton had grown flustered when he saw him at the flat earlier, Calum had thought maybe he had a chance. Now it was clear he didn’t. Well. _Clearer_. Maybe Ashton’s flirting was just his way of interacting with other people and Calum had seen too much into it. _Luke_ had seen too much into it. Plus, the younger had said Ashton had been thinking about a lot of stuff about himself. That didn’t imply anything that pertained Calum. So even if it stung, knowing now that it definitely wasn’t going to happen, it was easy for him to swallow his pain and smile back at Ashton in front of him. Calum had been doing it for well over two months now.

“I think it’s time we get back to work, isn’t it?” He chuckled.

Ashton looked confused for a moment there, as if he hadn’t expected the conversation to turn that way, _at all_. But Calum just brushed it off. Even more when the older quickly recovered and sent him a smile as he agreed.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course. Still a lot to do.” Ashton laughed. “I’m going to go order a coffee.”

And this time he didn’t ask Calum if he wanted anything.

 

* * *

 

 

“God, I miss my bed.” Calum groaned as he packed up his laptop and wacom, eyes almost dropping even despite the vast amount of coffee he had consumed. It doubtlessly was due to the humongous breakfast he had just scarfed down. That had to be why he was feeling so sleepy all of a sudden.

“Don’t say it too loudly.” Ashton pleaded quietly. He was also packing up his things, huge dark circles under his eyes that didn’t exactly make him look any less loopy than his outfit reflected. “Ugh, I’d kill to get out of my Hourglass shift.”

“You going straight to the Studio?”

“I should probably change my clothes, lest they think I’m deranged, right?” Ashton said, scrunching his face adorably before he laughed lightly.

“You probably should, yeah.” Calum chuckled, laughter coming up harder up his throat when Ashton let out a small giggle, his dimples deepening. _Fuck, did he need a bed to fall asleep._ Calum was tired and his brain wasn’t at its most strong after an all-nighter. Seeing Ashton being so bright with the morning light coming through the window was wrecking a havoc in Calum’s mind _and_ heart. The older’s hair was all mushed up from him having run his hands through it, and his purple glasses –although at first a great source of teasing– had grown on Calum. They framed Ashton’s face beautifully, and they gave him a boyish look that let Calum’s mind picture what he would have looked like five, six years ago. The answer was cute. _Really_ cute.

They had powered on through the night, having coffee breaks in between each hour. At first they had tried to keep themselves not bored to death by talking, but as the night went on, they had progressively grown quieter, each to their own thoughts even when they were sitting literally less than two feet apart. At some point they had had to join forces to finish up writing the dossier. That had been around the time the sky started lightening up. Ashton had insisted he could work on the finishing touches of the illustrations during the afternoon, so when the dossier was completed they had just gotten breakfast, on Calum.

“Thank you, for doing this.” Calum said. “I’m really grateful to you. I don’t know if I’ve said that before.”

“Aww, don’t get mushy on me, boss.” Ashton jested, a little smirk on his lips. But it was soon washed away, a softer expression taking hold of his face. “You haven’t said it out loud before.”

“Well, I did just now.” Calum huffed a nervous laugh. “I... was about to give up the project before I found out Luke knew you. Before you joined I had kind of lost all hope. I was going to quit.” He confessed in a low voice.

“I know, I saw your breakdown through the window at Hourglass.”

“You saw _what_?” Calum asked, his eyes wide. He had dropped his bag with how out of left field Ashton’s sudden revelation had come. He hurried to pick it up as he heard Ashton clearing his voice.

“When you came looking for Luke, the day the whole design team quit. I saw you.” Ashton said. He looked incredibly guilty. “I’m sorry I kept watching.” He added with a low voice.

“Oh.” Calum breathed out.

It seemed to be the only sound he could get out of his throat, which had grown strangely dry as Ashton glanced at him apologetically. His eyes had something in them that made Calum slightly frown, but he looked away from them as he left his bag on the table. Wow. So Ashton had seen _that_. Wasn’t his proudest moment, that was clear. He had been trying not to cry as he talked to Luke about what had happened, the whole game thing suddenly seeming like too much of a hassle for him to deal with. Calum had wanted to give up right then and there. Luke had had to talk him out of it. And then the unwanted tears had started falling down his cheeks, and Calum had felt even more pathetic. Knowing that Ashton had seen him at his lowest point in all his recent years wasn’t exactly a calming thought right now.

He heard Ashton coming around the table, his hand lightly setting on his shoulder. He took it away quickly, though, when Calum flinched at the touch. His eyes met Ashton’s again, and there was a slight hint of hurt at Calum’s action, but Calum hadn’t exactly been expecting the touch. It had just been a reflex, not an ill-intentioned flinch.

“It was the normal response to what happened, I think.” Ashton started slowly. “You _live_ for this project, you’ve invested your whole soul in it. It would be weird if it hadn’t affected you like that.” Ashton added. His tone was way too kind, like he was trying to be careful with what he said, and that just made Calum take a step back. There was another flash of hurt in Ashton’s eyes, but he masked it swiftly. “I wouldn’t be embarrassed that other people saw that. Your passion and your determination to keep the project afloat were what drew me in when you pitched it to me.” Ashton took a step forward again, trying to get closer to him, and Calum felt suddenly a bit cornered even if he was literally in the middle of an empty McDonald’s floor, nowhere near any walls.

“I felt like I made an ass of myself in that pitch.” Calum laughed nervously, his eyes flicking around and checking that in fact there was no one else around. The waitress that had spent the night shift there had clocked out after providing them their breakfasts, and no one else had shown yet to replace her. When his eyes fell back on Ashton, he stuttered out, “I practically begged you to accept.” 

“Yeah. You _did_ beg.” Ashton laughed, his dimples showing.

For some reason his proximity was making Calum’s heartbeat quicken. He had been close to Ashton before, while working shoulder to shoulder, or playing Dark Souls back at the flat. But it had never been face to face, so now that he was seeing Ashton’s eyes up close, he didn’t know how to react. Because it seemed like an awful lot of a _move_ on Ashton’s part, and… Calum wasn’t quite in the mood for another little dance around the _‘will he, won’t he’_. Especially not now that he knew for sure that it was a definite _‘won’t’_. It was starting to feel a little cruel on Ashton’s part too, because Calum _was_ sure that he knew about his feelings for him.

“I had already made up my mind even before you begged, though.” Ashton whispered, a tiny smile tugging at his lips and something like a blush covering his cheeks.

Calum had definitely had to have fallen asleep on the table. This had to be a hallucination. Maybe the amount of coffee he had consumed had led to a heart attack or something and he wasn’t really living through this moment.

“I’m really happy I said yes. The project let me get to know _you_.” Ashton said quietly.

The tiny smile had grown into a huge one, lighting up Ashton’s whole face. He was so close now that Calum could feel his breathing on his cheeks. If he wasn’t dreaming, he definitely was going to end up punching Ashton when he finally drew away, leaving Calum cold and confused.

"’M happy too.” He forced out. Ashton’s eyes were a million different shades of green from up close, and Calum’s hands suddenly itched for his sketchbook and his watercolours. Not that he hadn’t felt that urge before. He swallowed difficultly before squeaking out. “You're a good artist. Great friend." The last word tasted like ash in his mouth.

Ashton chuckled quietly, almost to himself as he looked down for a second, his eyes burning into Calum the next, something like nerves taking hold of them. He had stepped even closer then, enough that Calum was able to see perfect as a day the way Ashton’s cheeks had grown red, the way his lower lip seemed to be quiver just a bit, like he was close to crying or he was cold. But why would he be any of those things? Didn’t make sense.

"Calum?"

Ashton’s voice made him snap his eyes back to the older’s, away from his lips, and suddenly Calum wondered how long he had been staring, because _oh god_. When Ashton finally stopped playing and stepped away, Calum would have made enough of a fool out of himself for the older not to want to speak to him ever again.

Even then, he managed to squeak out a quiet, "Yeah, mate?"

Ashton lightly frowned at that, but then he was closing his eyes and leaning forward and then…

Then Ashton was kissing him.

Like, his lips on Calum's.

Calum stood immobile for like the first ten seconds of it, his heart on his throat and his eyes wide. He felt frozen. It must have been more than ten seconds, though, because Ashton was suddenly pulling away, opening his eyes and frowning a bit as he eyed Calum. He looked scared.

"Um.” Calum whispered, not finding any other words in his stupid brain. Stupid frozen brain. “Em. Uh...."

"Shit.” Ashton muttered under his breath, his blush –Calum now did realise it _was_ a blush– deepening as he took a couple of steps back, the look of fear in his eyes making Calum want to reach out. _Why the fuck wasn’t he moving? Or talking? Or anything?_ “Did I read that wrong?” Ashton breathed. “Sorry. I'm _so_ sorry. Calum, I thou–"

"No.” Calum cut him. His brain suddenly making the right connection between neurons to allow him to talk like normal human being “I, um… not wrong." Well, almost _normal_. "It's just…" He trailed off, his own eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Ashton, trying to make sense of the situation.

“What?” Ashton asked after the silence stretched a bit too much.

“Luke said…” Calum trailed off again, not really knowing how to match up the thing that had just happened with the reality parameters he had had prior to it.

“ _What_?” Ashton pressed.

Calum swallowed, biting his lip before muttering, “He said you don’t do relationships.”

“Oh. _That._ “ Ashton’s voice seem to catch in his throat, his eyes glancing away for a moment before he closed them, taking a deep breath. And then he was looking at Calum again, the younger only then noticing he was a bit taller than Ashton as he looked up at him. Then Ashton was leaning in again, this time aiming for his cheek. He seemed to have miscalculated a little, or maybe Calum moved his head at the last second, because Ashton’s lips were pressing a light kiss right in the corner of Calum’s mouth.

This time Calum did close his eyes, trying to breathe through it, trying to calm his raging heart. Because he still didn’t know what the hell was happening. Calum didn’t understand why Ashton was kissing him again, or why he was letting himself be kissed, even as innocent as this one seemed. He could feel the heat radiating out of Ashton’s body in front of him, wanted to reach out and grab his hand, lace their fingers but he was still frozen to the spot as Ashton sighed and pulled away. He didn’t go too far this time, though.

Ashton had a beautiful colour to his cheeks, and was bashfully looking down at both their feet, seemingly speeches all of a sudden.

“What… was that?” Calum whispered after some time, not knowing what else to do.

They were standing close. Closer than any platonic friends would ever stand. But they were also _not_ touching. Both retreated into themselves as Ashton kept staring at the floor and Calum kept staring at him, marvelling at the expression on the older’s face.

Ashton grimaced for a moment before looking up, biting his lip lightly before he let a smile brighten up his features, his eyes fixed on Calum’s as he said, “That was a… uh, a very shitty way of telling you I _like_ you, I think?”

“Oh.” Calum mumbled. “ _Oh_.” His eyes were wide enough that he knew he had to look insane to whoever where to witness this exchange. “Okay.”

Without thinking twice about it, he leant forward, claiming Ashton’s lips finally in a kiss worthy of the name. Ashton had taken about five seconds before he responded, his mouth moving lightly against Calum. It was infinitely better than their last two attempts, and yet something was still missing. Calum’s hands crept up out of their own accord, cradling Ashton’s face in them as Calum stepped closer to him, pressing close. Closer still when he felt Ashton timidly wrapping his arms around his waist, letting out a slight moan when Calum depended the kiss.

It was exhilarating, kissing him. Calum had been pining away for months, always thinking it was a lost cause. Too many nights rolling around in his bed, his head plagued with thoughts of what-ifs. Too many days getting home after a night out with Ashton, the older’s flirting hitting deeper, hurting a bit more each time. But, Calum was kissing him now.

Ashton was making him dizzy, wanting to find a wall to support them because he felt his knees growing week, his breath faltering. His heart was pounding on his chest and he was pretty sure he could feel Ashton’s own doing the same through his clothes. Calum was beginning to feel really light-headed, though, so he broke off the kiss slowly, revelling in the way Ashton followed him when he tried to pull away. It made him smile, a little chuckle coming up uninhibited.

“I like you too, Ash.” He whispered, opening his eyes lazily and stroking Ashton’s cheek with his thumb. “In case _that_ didn’t, um, clear it up for you.” He added with a breathy laugh.

Calum felt like he was about to pass out, the way his heart kept beating so rapidly, and he was sure he had to be blushing to the tip of his ears. But Ashton’s smile and the way his eyes were lit up made it all worth it.

“Nice.” Ashton said.

Calum scoffed, his hands sliding away from Ashton’s face as he took a step back. “ _Nice_?”

The older seemed to be legitimately bashful right then, the blush on his cheeks darkening as he eyed the floor, the restaurant, the street on the other side of the glass. Everywhere except Calum.

“Sorry, I literally don’t know what to do now.” He said, adding in a quiet voice, “I’m just feeling so awkward.”

Calum let out a groan, “Saying it makes it even more _awkward_.”

It was true. Like the word itself had changed the mood, both of them looking everywhere _but_ at each other. Well. Calum didn’t exactly know where to go from there. Ashton hadn’t exactly denied Calum’s first fear about him not wanting to be in a relationship. And Calum had let himself develop way too big feelings for him, not to not want a proper relationship out of whatever just had happened.

He swore, if Ashton were to tell him he just liked him and still didn’t want anything further than a few make-outs, his heart was going to take a beating. One thing was pining after the older, convincing himself that nothing could ever come out of it because Ashtons just didn’t _‘see him that way’_. Another thing was Ashton admitting he liked him, two pecks and a mind-blowing kiss that Calum was probably going to be reliving for a _long_ time.

“So.” Ashton whispered, cutting into his thoughts.

“So.” Calum repeated.

“Yeah, so…” Ashton tried again, grimacing before pointing to the clock on the wall that marked quarter past eight in the morning, “...I have to go?”

“Oh. Right. Weekday. Hourglass.” Calum exhaled, nodding almost too quickly.

He still hadn’t looked Ashton in the eye again, not after their proper kiss.

“I’m supposed to be at the studio in like, 40 minutes.” The older provided.

Given that they both took the same bus, Calum knew that Ashton had approximately no more than 10 minutes to spare, maybe 15 if he hurried after. And then he realised Ashton didn’t have time to go home and change.

“You’re going to work looking like that?” He asked, not being able to keep in the little giggle that followed.

Ashton finally met his eyes, his shining with something like amusement. “Don’t have much of a choice, do I?” He finished with a yawn.

It made Calum break out into a fit of giggles, the way the whole ensemble just seemed to fit even more now that Ashton had that sleepy look on his face. It was kind of adorable.

“Still not worse than your raincoat, I’ll say.” Calum teased instead, laughing even harder when Ashton tried swatting him for that. He was too far away, though.

They fell silent, the only sounds those of the crew that was beginning to trash shit in the kitchen and the clock, gently ticking away. Calum didn’t know what they were supposed to do now. If it were up to him, he would just take two steps towards Ashton and claim his lips in a kiss again, put the time they had left before Ashton had to go to good use. But they hadn’t exactly talked things through, so he felt a bit like a fish out of water, waiting for something to happen, not knowing the parameters within which he could act.

“Sorry.” Ashton finally uttered, biting his lower lip as his hand made a move to grab his backpack.

“Why sorry?” Calum asked, frowning.

“Don’t know.” Ashton said. It was apparent he was nervous, and Calum didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. “I… sorry for not staying more time?” Ashton tested. “Please don’t make me feel more awkward.” He finished, his eyes trained on the floor, blush reappearing in his cheeks.

“I don’t want you to.” Calum said immediately.

Ashton smiled faintly at that, slinging his backpack on and taking a couple of steps closer towards Calum, grabbing his right hand out of nowhere and squeezing a little before he leant in, kissing him in the corner of his lips one more time. This time, though, Calum reacted quickly this time and turned his head so their lips were properly lined up. Even though Ashton appeared a bit hesitant at first, he was the one who deepened the kiss that time, swiping his tongue over Calum’s lips before coaxing him to open up. It made Calum’s knees weaken again, a weird cross between a moan and a gasp coming out of him, and for a moment he felt embarrassed at it, but Ashton only smiled against his lips before using his free hand to grab him by his hip, bringing them even closer together. It made Calum sigh as he raised his hands up, tangling them in Ashton’s hair.

They could have been kissing for a minute or ten, Calum didn’t actually know. When Ashton ended it, slowly, he peered at the clock and realised it had been more like 6 minutes. He didn’t complain.

“That wasn’t awkward.” Calum smirked when Ashton pulled away enough so that they could look into each other’s eyes.

“Nope, it wasn’t.” Ashton laughed brightly. He sounded nervous again, biting his lip. And well, if that was a thing he did when nervous, Calum was totally up for making him nervous like this every time he could. It looked incredibly cute and sexy. “Meet me for lunch?” Ashton asked, looking up at him expectantly.

“I’ll be by the doors.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh my god, you haven’t changed clothes?” Luke whisper shouted at Ashton as soon as the older left his things on the table.

He looked utterly exhausted, eye bags reaching the floor, but that was just normal after the all nighter. Luke hadn’t had a chance to see Calum before he left home, but he would bet he looked about the same.

“It run a bit late.” Ashton shrugged, yawning as he bent down to turn his computer on.

“Calum texted me you guys stopped working at 6 and that you were going to get breakfast then head out.” Luke frowned.

He had been wondering about that since he woke up. He had expected to at least cross Calum on the hallway, but he hadn’t. Luke had even been nice and left some pancakes on the stove waiting for Calum when he returned, to add to the breakfast they had had at McDonald’s. What does one have for breakfast at McDonald’s, anyway?

“Well. Yeah. We finished at 6.” Ashton admitted, albeit a bit hesitantly.

“It’s 9 o’clock.”

“And?” Ashton looked like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes scared behind the frame of his purple glasses, his messy hair just a tad messier than if he had just come out of bed. Which Luke knew he hadn’t. He hadn’t slept at all. That was weird.

“You didn’t have time to go home and change?” Luke asked out loud, and when Ashton’s cheeks started to fill with colour, a sudden revelation popped in his mind. The tousled hair, the blush, the shifty behaviour. “Oh my god.” His eyes widened, a crazy grin stretching his mouth as Luke leaned forward, whisper-shouting, “ _Oh my god_!”

“Don’t jump into conclusions.” Ashton pleaded, looking around to see if anyone else had heard Luke.

“Why didn’t _Calum_ tell me anything?” Luke asked excitedly. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Calum had to be ecstatic after so long. It had been like two months of pining, and Luke knew most of the time he had been more emo over it than anything else. Having Ashton finally… Well. Calum had to be in cloud nine. And it was weird he hadn’t said anything to Luke yet. Luke would have expected at least a phone call or something. Anything after something so _big_ happening.

“Calum didn’t tell you anything because there’s nothing to tell.” Ashton said. He had a serious look on his face as he addressed the blonde. “Just, Luke, promise you’ll wait and ask him when you see him?”

“Ask who what?” Silex’s voice cut in, making them both jump. “Nice outfit, Irwin.” She joked around when she finally came to a stop between their two desks.

“Leave me alone.” Ashton muttered, the red in his cheeks darkening as he trained his eyes on the floor, suddenly shy.

“He had an all-nighter.” Luke piped in, smiling brightly at Silex.

But he must have smiled too much, because Silex took it entirely the wrong way –or the right way, Luke still wasn’t too sure–.

“Woohoo!” She let out excitedly, clapping him on the back and leaning down so she was face to face with a very suddenly flustered Ashton. “Who was the lucky person?”

“No on–”

“My best friend Calum.” Luke grinned.

“Shut up, Luke.”

Maybe Silex was right. Although, if something major like sex had happened and Calum hadn’t told him anything, he would have hell to pay. Besides, Luke knew Ashton hadn’t gone home to change, and Calum hadn’t either, so if something like that had happened… It must have happened at the restaurant. _Oh god_. They couldn’t have, could they? Gross.

“Oh, I’m never shutting up about this.” He said instead, wiggling his eyebrows at Ashton in front of him, the older just letting out an exasperated groan and letting his face fall against the table.

“Okay. I’m going to pretend none of this isn’t happening.” He mumbled against the desk.

“Yeah. You do that.” Luke laughed.

His eyes crossed with Silex’s, an amused smile pulling at the woman’s lips. “Okay, I really love discovering about you guy’s lives and all, but to the thing at hand. Ready to show me some stuff Luke?”

Even though Luke should have expected it, it still caught him off guard. The dailies weren’t until mid-morning, and he thought he would still have some time to try to fix up his fuck up. “Huhum.” He muttered, swallowing slowly as a knot started to form on his throat. “I, um… Can I ask for a favour before?”

Silex frowned at him, confused, but she nodded anyway, taking a nearby chair and sitting next to Luke.

“Please don’t be too judgy. I may have fucked up a step a couple of days ago. Or before, I don’t know.” He muttered, feeling the heat rising in his cheeks. He was avoiding Silex’s gaze.

“What kind of mistake?” She asked kindly.

“Some part of the animation has gone to gimbal lock. I only noticed when I changed from stepped to splines.” He added, finally raising his eyes, afraid of what Silex would say. This was the first time someone trusted him with something important, and a fuck up so basic like not planning the scene in advance so this very mistake didn’t happen seemed an awful lot like a slap to Luke’s face for him having had been given this opportunity so early.

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner? You moved the project to splines three days ago.” Silex said. There was no reprimand in her voice, only curiosity, and that made it even harder for Luke to answer.

He tried swallowing past the knot that had kept growing at an alarming pace, muttering out, “I was trying to fix it so you wouldn’t have to see my screw up. I didn’t want to...um…” He trailed off, his eyes crossing with Ashton’s across from him in his desperate attempt not to look into Silex’s eyes. The older just sent him an encouraging smile, nodding as if he was saying to trust Silex. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before swivelling the chair to face the young woman, who was smiling at him patiently. “I didn’t want to disappoint you, Sil.” He admitted quietly, feeling even more nervous all of a sudden.

And then Silex let out a laugh, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she stretched her hand to squeeze out Luke’s knee.

“Luke, I expected you to fuck up at some point.” She said, but then she corrected herself quickly. “No. That came out wrong. Sorry. I didn’t expect you to know how to do everything, you’re here to _learn_.” She stressed. “We’ve all fucked up, in various degrees. And I’m not only talking about when we started out as interns, Luke. There’s been major fuck ups even for those of us who’ve been here for years.”

“Oh.” Was the only thing that Luke could say at that moment, Silex’s smile and her words being a little too much to process at a moment’s notice.

“And gimbal isn’t a big fuck up, Luke.” She proceeded. “Have you checked all the curves, to see if they had gone astray?”

“Yes.” Luke nodded. “It was the first thing I did. It looked okay.”

“Well, can you show me the project?” Silex smiled again, giving his knee a couple pats as encouragement. “Let’s see if we can solve this together, yeah?”

“Okay.” Luke nodded, letting out a big sigh.

It had been looming on his mind throughout the week. The fact that a simple error such as that had taken him out of his game, and that he couldn’t really find a solution that worked. He had dreaded having to actually tell Silex because that had meant admitting defeat and admitting he hadn’t planned the animation having the possible locks into account and that he hadn’t been able to solve a beginner’s error. But Silex was just treating it like any other day when she gave him feedback, letting Luke suggest things and guiding him through the process. They hadn’t been able to find a solution that worked, though, but Silex spared him from having to go up to dailies with nothing to show. She said she’s help him when she came back down, tracking down the moment where the error had begun.

So Luke spent the morning checking files one by one, noting down in his notebook whenever he found something that could lead to it for him to check later with Silex. Ashton had once again offered to help, but giving that he looked even more dead at that point than he had when he had come in that morning, Luke waved him away. In fact, he told him to get a little shut eye while the office emptied out at 11:30, everyone leaving for the meeting. Ashton had yawned and thanked him profusely, setting his head on the desk and falling asleep within seconds.

Luke wondered what had gone on between him and Calum for Ashton to have told him to wait until he saw Calum to ask. The obvious answer was at least some kissing, but that didn’t exactly explain why Ashton hadn’t answered him right then, instead avoiding the question. Maybe something else had happened? Or maybe Luke was thinking about it too hard, and there was nothing else going on.

He bit the end of his pen a little, glancing around the room and taking it in now that it was empty. Luke had come to the realisation not long ago that he was going to miss this place once he finished his four months. Silex had extended his internship an extra month so he would have time to finish the joint project for Animation, and still the date was approaching way too fast. Only three weeks to go. And now that he thought about it, that would mean saying goodbye to his mornings with Ashton, too. Luke had grown to look forward to breaks in between work, to sharing his thoughts with the older. And even though he didn’t doubt they would still hang out after he finished here, it just wouldn’t be the same. Luke was going to miss Silex too. She was like this big figure he admired, always facing her work head on. His months under her had taught Luke _a lot_. Oh. And Michael’s notes. He was going to miss those too.

Luke had come in that morning impatient to read Michael’s answer, and he hadn’t been disappointed. There was a note attached to his own from yesterday, even longer than his had been. It had made him smile, knowing that he got to talk again with the boy. Michael had thanked him for his observations, and made a couple of jokes about him being called the ‘new-Clifford’, saying that had only served to feed his ego. He had also left another suggestive pick up line for Luke that had had him blushing to his ears as he looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. He was going to miss that, writing out letters. Because at that point, they felt more like letters than notes. And there was just something about putting ink to paper that made it all the more special.

Luke had apologised profusely about starting the whole thing, even knowing perhaps he was overthinking it. But he just needed to know that Michael hadn’t felt pressured into replying. He had answered to the pick up line with one of his own and wrote down his fears about the gimbal fuck up. He figured, if Michael could be vulnerable with him, why shouldn’t he?

By the time everyone started coming down from the meeting, it was almost lunch break, and Luke quickly woke up Ashton from his nap, worried when the older seemed to be more tired than before it. Ashton had offered to stay and wait for him while he went over his notes with Silex, but Luke ushered him away. If both him and Calum met up before Luke got there, that could only help, right?

 

* * *

 

 

“When was this?” Calum asked, giggling at the cosplay Ashton was showing him.

He would admit that seeing Ashton’s tee all tight up and him wearing tights was making his heart jump out of his chest, but… Captain America was just… Well. He wouldn’t say he saw Ashton as much Captain America-ish. Perhaps more along the lines of Superman, but Calum _was_ biased, he did love DC more than Marvel.

“It was a con a couple of years ago.” Ashton answered him with a smile.

They were sitting close, their knees touching, which wasn’t making it better for Calum’s heart to calm down either. He hadn’t even been able to sleep all morning, replaying the night before in his mind and rolling around in his bed with a huge smile splitting his face. He couldn’t believe what had happened. Him and Ashton hadn’t talked about it yet, but the older had greeted him with a peck at Hourglass’s entrance, so Calum supposed he wasn’t regretting anything.

Since they had to wait for Luke for lunch, Ashton had taken out his phone and begun showing him pics of his cosplays. Between them, the way Ashton’s hand brushed with his every once in a while and the smiles he sent his way, and the little peck he had given him just because, Calum was feeling a little dizzy.

“Oh, this is from one of the panels.” Ashton said, pointing to another picture, and even before he opened his mouth Calum was already clutching his arm with his eyes wide and a gasp coming out of his throat.

“You met _Frank Miller_?” He exclaimed, perhaps a tad too loudly when he noticed people from the other tables looking at them. “Oh my god, your hand has shaken the hand that’s written The Dark Knight Returns. _Oh my god_.” He added quietly, his eyes trained on the picture where Ashton was with a guy dressed as Batman. The other guy’s cosplay was much more detailed than Ashtons, but Calum was still freaking out about them meeting Frank _fucking_ Miller.

“Mike and me only went because of the panel. Well, to be honest _he_ dragged me there.” Ashton recounted from his right, and Calum could hear the laughter and the fond in his voice, but he was still busy gaping at the picture. “Mike has a crazy fixation on Batman, I swear. He even has themed tees and underwear. It’s almost like you, but he doesn’t have a _shrine_.” Ashton teased, and that finally drew Calum’s eyes up back to the older’s.

“ _Ouch_.” He complained. “I thought you liked my shrine.” He pouted.

And it was just the best thing when Ashton leant in and kissed the pout of his lips, making Calum smile and sigh, butterflies flying in his stomach. When Ashton pulled back he was blushing, his eyes nervously darting everywhere as if he was self-conscious of having done that in the middle of the busy cafeteria. But Calum didn’t mind. He felt too good to mind anything right now.

And then his brain decided to register one of the words Ashton had said, paired with the Batman talk and the _underwear_ comment.

“Wait.” He whispered. “Mike as in Michael? You’re best friend’s name is _Michael_?”

“Yeah?” Ashton answered distractedly, still bashfully looking down at his hands. He looked way too cute at that moment, but Calum couldn’t really stop to process it because he had a way more important thing processing.

“Michael Clifford?” He pressed.

“Yeah.” Ashton nodded. And then he froze, his eyes snapping back to Calum’s and the colour draining from his face. “Oh shit. _Oh shit_. Fuck. I wasn’t supposed to say that. Oh shit, Mike’s going to _kill me_.” He said in a breath, his eyes suddenly flickering around the room again, his leg hopping up and down quickly as he grew very outwardly nervous.

“Your best friend is _Michael Clifford_?” Calum said one more time, trying to come to terms with it. It sounded incredibly alien to his own ears. How in the world–

“I can explain!” Ashton suddenly rushed, his hands grabbing Calum’s as he tried to make eye-contact again. “Please, I can explain. He made me not tell either of you I knew him.” He murmured, his eyes pleading with Calum.

Calum eyed him for a moment, not knowing exactly how to take this news. On the one hand, now it was clear that Michael was indeed a real guy and not someone who was just playing with Luke, on the other hand… Him asking Ashton not to say anything sounded quite a bit suspicious. And Calum wouldn’t let that fly. Luke had a right to know. “Well, I have to tell Luke.” He said, biting his lower lip as Ashton’s face fell, a sigh escaping past his lips as he took his hands away from Calum’s.

“No. I’ll… I’ll tell him.” The older said quietly, his body language almost like he was retreating into himself, guilt written right across his face. “I’m sorry I lied to you.” He said sadly. “I didn’t want to lie, to either of you.”

“I…” It hurt seeing Ashton like that. He did look regretful, so Calum let out a sigh before muttering, “Okay, I believe that. But Luke has a right to know, Ashton.”

“I know.” Ashton nodded. Calum had to take his eyes away from him for a moment, still trying to process that Michael was Ashton’s best friend, Ashton’s roommate. Suddenly them both always hanging out at Calum’s made sense. It made a lot of sense.

They were still waiting on Luke for lunch. Ashton had said something of him going over his assignment with Silex and that he would be there soon when they met up at Hourglass’s doors. It had already been close to twenty minutes since that, so Calum thought Luke wouldn’t take much more time.

Sure enough, he appeared through the doors of the cafeteria a couple of minutes after, Calum sparing a glance to Ashton to his right, who was still nervously bouncing his leg up and down, his eyes going wide when he followed Calum’s gaze and saw Luke. Calum grabbed his hand instinctively, squeezing it a bit as he laced their fingers together.

“Do it now, Ash.” He heard the older’s shaky intake of breath and squeezed his hand one more time. “Don’t worry, I don’t think Luke will be mad at you.” He whispered, and Ashton sent him a miniscule smile just as Luke reached their table.

“Hey.” Luke smiled.

There was something weird about his face that Calum couldn’t exactly pinpoint, and it didn’t really go away even when he slid Luke’s favourite sandwich his way. He had initially gotten it for himself, it being the last honey mustard chicken one, but he thought Luke would need it more today for some reason.

“Thanks.” Luke said, his eyes squinting at them for a moment before Ashton started talking.

“So, um, Luke…” He trailed off. His voice sounded incredibly shaky and Calum looked worriedly to his right.

“What?”

“I, um.”

“For Pete's sake, just say it.” Luke snorted, clearly not catching how nervous Ashton was, only looking at them both with an amused smile. Calum could probably guess what he thought Ashton was about to say, and it made him blush.

“Michael’s kinda my best friend.” Ashton blurted out in a rush, and Luke’s face changed completely from amused to confusion. “He has been for a couple years.” Ashton added pitifully, and Calum felt the need to wrap him in a hug and squeeze him tight.

His eyes flicked back to Luke, though, and to his surprise Luke’s face had gone back to amused as he opened his sandwich and took a bite out of it.

“Okay.” He nodded, both to the sandwich and to Ashton.

“That’s all you’re going to say?” Calum cut in. Now he was the one who was confused.

“What? I told you I thought Ash knew him.” Luke laughed lightly. “He hasn’t exactly been subtle. No offence.” He shrugged.

Ashton was staring at him from his place, his mouth hanging open in shock. It took him a couple of seconds, but he finally said, “I’m sorry I kept quiet, Luke.”

“No worries.” Luke grinned at them both, his eyes falling again to their joined hands before fixing his eyes on Calum.

The dark-haired boy felt his cheeks growing warm, and he turned to face Ashton before Luke had any chance to address it. “You said Michael didn’t want Luke to know. Why?”

Ashton looked at him, sighing, and turning to Luke after. “I think he’s trying not to see you as a real person behind the writing.” He said slowly.

“He’s _what_.” Calum let out indignantly. “Are you saying he’s just playing with Luke?”

“No! Not like that.” Ashton hurried to correct himself. “He’s just afraid because he’s getting too attached to you, Luke,–” He said as he turned to face the blonde again, “–and because he thinks he doesn’t have time to…”

“Have any more worries right now.” Luke finished quietly, nodding. “I understand.”

Calum didn’t know what the fuck was happening right now. Had Luke kept something from him about Michael’s letters? He knew Luke had come home incredibly happy a couple of days ago because Michael had finally written back again. But now that Calum thought of it, Luke hadn’t actually disclosed the content of the note Michael had left for him. He would have to ask about that.

“He still likes talking to you. Like, a lot.” Ashton offered up, breaking the silence that had fallen in between them.

Luke smiled, but Calum could see it wasn’t a real smile. Not entirely. It didn’t reach his eyes, and it made Calum wonder if he had overlooked something worse happening in Luke’s life recently. He felt like a shitty friend.

Luke cleared his throat, his face suddenly going back to teasing as he smirked at them, his eyes determinedly falling to their joint hands. “What is going on with you _two_ , anyway?” He asked wiggling his eyebrows profusely.

Calum felt himself blushing a tenfold, suddenly bashful.

“We’re…” Ashton trailed off.

Calum turned to look at him, worried. He looked even redder than he had been that morning, and it made Calum’s heart skip a bit, with how cutely his cheeks were rounding up as Ashton tried to shy away from Luke’s eyes. He didn’t let go of Calum’s hand, though, so the younger squeezed it, making Ashton look at him with a tiny smile on his lips.

“Something.” Calum breathed. They hadn’t exactly gotten to the talking part about it, so it was safest to say that. He would probably spill everything later to Luke on their way home. He smiled warmly at Ashton, giving his hand another squeeze before he turned to his best friend, repeating more surely, “We’re something.” 

Luke’s face was beaming back at him, “Well, I’m happy you guys are.” His eyes seemed suspiciously shiny, and Calum felt his own blurring with some tears as he bit his lip.

He felt Ashton leaning forward and giving him a peck on the cheek, and that just made his heart swell even bigger.

Calum could only hope Luke’s earlier look didn’t mean something more serious, he wanted what he was feeling for him, too. Luke deserved some happiness his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...so... In the planning, Cashton were supposed to be like a subplot, but they decided to fight with Muke for the spotlight as I kept writing 😅  
> But no worries, this is still very much a Luke and Michael story, and even though it may not be what you may want to read (I'm really shooting myself in the foot here, aren't I?), this is definitely about them, and they'll both get their happy endings. It just may take a bit longer :S  
> Drop me a comment with your thoughts! I'd love to read them! <33


	8. Hey, Batman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... sorry. Life got in the way. Again.  
> Hope you enjoy this if you're still reading!

It was almost automatic at this point, Michael reaching for Luke’s notes the moment he got to Hourglass and sat down. They had become kind of the only thing that made him smile through his hours there. Well, Silex’s jokes and banter too, but Luke’s were definitely of another sort of smile. They warmed him up inside, even made him feel giddy when they were extra long and Luke just rambled on about his day. Which was bad. Really bad.

Michael was never supposed to develop any sort of attachment there. But he had. And what was worse, he had developed a crush without even meeting Luke. A crush that scared the shit out of him. Because Luke seemed to be at least feeling sort of the same shit, if his notes were anything to go by. And Michael had never felt comfortable opening up to people, always preferring to keep to himself most times. It was easier that way. It was safest that way. If he didn’t open up, he wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt him, right? Michael also knew it was a fucked up way of thinking, but it had worked until then so he thought it was best to keep it up. So he continuously told himself that it would just pass or that Luke didn’t actually reciprocated the crush.

And yet…

That crush on Luke made him want to get to meet him in person, this wonderful ball of fluff and positivity that thought too little of himself. Michael always tried to hype him up through his writing, but he would just like to give him a hug sometime. It seemed like Luke needed one most of the times. And it broke Michael’s heart the way he kept putting himself down. Because Michael had fished around their shared computer to see what he was working on, and truly, Luke had nothing to worry about. He had instincts and a way of providing appeal to his characters that you couldn’t just learn. It had to come from inside. And Luke had it. That talent.

With a sigh he reached for that day’s note, excited to read him again. Even if Luke’s handwriting was more like a chicken’s scrawl, Michael had come to love the sight of it. Today the note was one of the long ones, so he left the software opening as he settled on the chair, beginning to read.

_I think I screwed up again on the project, can you believe me? I have to be the stupidest guy ever. Only this time I don’t know what went wrong… The whole file just freezes once I try to move up and down the timeline, and then Maya crashes. I’m supposed to turn it in in two weeks and I don’t know what to do, Mike. I can’t fuck it up. I don’t want to have Silex cover for me yet again…_

_Anyways, how are you? I hope you’re better, or at least less stressed. I haven’t wanted to ask much about it because I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about it. But know that I’m here for you if you want. For whatever, not just that topic. I’d like to be there for you, for anything._

_This week Calum’s new boyfriend has been hanging out at my place every day –not that they didn’t actually do that before, there’s been many afternoons I’ve come home to find them both engrossed on Dark Souls, even though that was a Calum and I kind of thing :(–. But they look happy, I think. I haven’t seen Calum smile that much since at least a year ago, and it makes me feel so happy for him, so happy for them. Can you believe that when they told me I almost broke out crying? That’s how pathetic I am, crying because my best friend found someone that makes him happy hahhahah_

_Ashton seems a bit overwhelmed at times, when Calum isn’t looking. That worries me. Ashton told me when we met that he wasn’t used to being in relationships, and I think it may be a bit too much for him to digest. Even when I haven’t seen them doing much else than what they were doing before. I’ve only ever seen them hand-holding, it’s almost like they’re too shy to kiss in front of me haahhaha. But even when he looks overwhelmed at times, I’ve also caught Ashton looking so… What’s the word… Adoring. Yeah. He gets this heart-eyed look every time Calum does something stupid –which I’ll have you know, it’s almost like an all-the-time occurrence–. Calum’s the same too, when Ashton isn’t looking. He stays still, fascinated by everything Ashton does. Hahahahah. They’re quite funny to watch. Also quite heartwarming, watching two people falling for each other. It’s like watching a romcom happening in front of my eyes, but better because they’re both important people to me. And it’s cuter when you know it’s for real, right? Don’t take me wrong, fairy tale endings in romcoms are kinda my thing, I absolutely adore them. Don’t know if I’ve ever told you that before, but I’m a huge sucker for romcoms hahahh_

_I hope you have a great afternoon, Mike. And I’m already looking forward to your next note. You always make me smile. Even when it’s 9 o’clock on a Monday and I am grumpy as hell, you make me smile. You should be proud of that, I’ve been told it’s a rare talent :P_

_L._

Was it normal to be smiling this hard? That last bit almost made Michael’s heart explode inside his chest, and he basked in the feeling for a moment before the freak out begun. How could he have let this happen? The words of a stranger to affect him like this. _But he’s not a stranger anymore, isn’t he?_ , supplied his brain. And yeah, no. Luke wasn’t a stranger. At all.

Michael knew way too many things about the other boy, facts about his likes and dislikes sticking in his brain every time he read a note, his anecdotes popping up in his thoughts when Michael was alone at home, making him smile and shake his head fondly.

Luke liked romcoms, yes. It wasn’t the first time he said that. He liked them because they made him believe in a love that wasn’t boring. They also made him cry, even when he had sworn it had only been once. Michael just knew he was a crier, and that only made him smile more fondly. He loved pizza and burgers, but he was in love with the university cafeteria’s honey mustard chicken sandwich. He loved spending hours binge-watching whatever he could get his hands on on Netflix, the phrase ‘Netflix and chill’ meaning exactly that for him. Blanket, popcorn and movies. He also obviously loved his best friend, and by the way he talked about Calum, Michael knew he was more of a brother to Luke than just a friend. The bond he described reminded Michael of his own with Ashton, but he felt like Luke’s went even further. MIchael knew that because Ashton had told him of the guy telling him off before he had gotten together with Calum. Of Luke pretty much telling Ashton to stop fucking with Calum’s heart, or _else_.

It all made Michael’s heart swell in his chest. To think that he had gotten to know this boy, that Luke had opened up so easily to him. That he had allowed himself to be vulnerable even without knowing who was on the other side of the notes. It made Michael feel _things_ for him –a giant crush, Ashton had named it–, but there weren’t only good feelings. There was fear, too. A huge amount. Michael didn’t know if a crush was what he needed right at that moment. Not when his life was upside down, his mind still twisted around the fact that he hated what he was doing every day. Luke had a life of his own, and Michael didn’t exactly want to drag anyone into his mind. He wasn’t at his best… The fact that he kept working every night for hours on stupid wood carvings when he should have been sleeping. He _couldn’t_ sleep, though. Was the thing. Because when he tried, Michael kept going down a spiral of thoughts about his future that just made him stare blankly into his ceiling.

So he carved. And he let himself entertain the idea of meeting Luke for real, in his weakest moments. Four am and everything around him so silent he could even hear Ashton’s breathing from across the hall. He could hear their kitchen’s clock ticking away, the owl that had made home in their building’s roof hooting away. He let his thoughts wander at those times. About what it would be like to meet Luke, to make him crack up and see if their jokes translated into real, boisterous laugh, or it was just silent chuckles. What it would be like to be his personal cheerleader, to support him when Luke doubted himself. To _hug_ him. He only allowed himself to think about that during the nights. During the days, he focused on finishing his schoolwork and working at Hourglass.

Which he should probably do, before Silex came looking for him and saw him staring at Luke’s note, a silly smile on his face. He had had enough of her teasing for weeks now, he certainly didn’t need anymore. Her in the mornings, Ashton whenever they actually were home at the same time. Michael’s patience was full.

Speaking of them both, Ashton had pressed him again to talk to Silex about his situation. He insisted she would know exactly what to say to him. His exact argument had been _‘I’ve seen her with Luke, she’s like a wizard at calming people down, Mike. Besides, she’s also your friend_.’ He was probably right. And that was why Michael had been struggling to muster up the courage to bring it up to her for almost a week.

He grabbed his things from the desk and walked the way to Silex’s slowly, dreading getting there. Both because of the work waiting for him and because he thought he finally had the guts to talk to her. Silex was engrossed as always on her work, her eyes never leaving the screen even when her right hand was flying over her notebooks writing down stats and things they had to get over.

“Hey, Sil.” He greeted, taking the stool he usually sat at and propping himself down next to her.

“Give me a minute and I’ll be with you.” She said, the corner of her lips pulling up just a bit.

Michael nodded before realising she couldn’t see him, and he felt stupid. His eyes travelled the room in an attempt to calm himself down. Maybe it wasn’t the best to talk to Silex here, in the open. It was a pretty slow afternoon and everyone was more kind of hanging out than talking. They had met a pretty big deadline a couple of days ago, so they were chilling after a gruelling week. They would not doubt overhear their conversation if Michael just brought it up right there.

He was in the middle of thinking up an excuse to get Silex to a more secluded place at the office when she finished what she was doing, letting out a big sigh and popping up her bones.

“Ew.” Michael muttered. “That sounded like an old skeleton.”

“Shut up, I’ve been chained here since 8 this morning.” She groaned. “Everyone’s just chilling because they finished their projects, but that only mean our deadline’s getting closer and I’m exhausted.”

“You don’t look that racoon-y today, though.” Michael offered.

“Gee, thanks Michael. What a compliment.” She smiled tightly at him. “I’m dying for a coffee, you want some?” She asked as she pushed her glasses up, looking at him expectantly.

And that was the opportunity Michael had been waiting for. Everyone was at the office so the hallways were probably empty. Perfect chance to talk to Silex.

“Actually, I _do._ “ He grinned.

Silex eyed him weirdly before she picked up her wallet from the table and got up, waiting for him to do the same. It took Michael a couple of seconds to react, and he saw how Silex frowned harder at him at that.

“You okay?” She asked as they walked to the vending machine.

The hallway was indeed deserted.

Michael had two options there, just come clean or wait until he could muster up some courage. He didn’t think he would muster up much more, though, so he just went with, “Not really.”

He was expecting some kind of reaction out of Silex, but she just nodded, walking up the rest of the way to the machine and selecting her coffee, pushing in the coins. Michael followed her, some feelings waking up in his chest at Silex’s apparent disinterest, even when it had been her the one to ask. He waited a full minute, the silence stretching over them uncomfortably before he suddenly couldn’t wait any more.

“What? You’re not going to ask anything else?” He laughed disbelievingly, feeling his face contort into a weird smile. “‘ _Gee, and why’s that, Mike? How can I help you?’_ ” He asked with a high pitched voice, that in hindsight didn’t really serve as a really accurate impersonation of Silex, who just fixed him a stare before she turned to grab her coffee.

“I was going to ask, you idiot. I just thought maybe we should go somewhere not next to the bathrooms where anyone could walk by.” She said slowly, rolling her eyes. “Now, are you coming with me or not?”

Michael grimaced, mouthing out a sorry before muttering, “Yes.”

“ _Great_.”

She then lead the way upstairs, and Michael frowned before he realised where Silex was taking them. The projection room was always empty this time of the afternoon. And there were comfy _armchairs_.

Once they were already inside, Silex took a seat, motioning him to sit down next to her.

“Okay, spill.”

And then Michael’s mouth was dry, his brain not connecting to his vocal chords, his eyes staring wide at Silex as he panicked on how to start. But Silex beat him to it.

“Is this about Chris’ offer?”

Michael let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, nodding. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Are you having doubts? About this Studio?” She frowned, taking a sip of her coffee and making a face before she left it on the floor next to her feet to cool. “They pay quite well, if that’s worrying you.”

“No, it’s not about the pay.” Michael shook his head. “Believe me, my eyes almost bulged out when Chris talked numbers.” He laughed lightly.

“Then…?” She pressed. “I need a little guidance here, if I am to help you.”

“It’s…”

Now came the hard part. The part that was making his heart race, his eyes flitting away from Silex’s concerned features, his hands shaking so much he had to clutch his knees to try to stop it. And it was the stupidest thing, because this was Silex. Why the fuck did he feel like he would be disappointing her when he said what he needed to say? Like he was letting her down?

“You’re not taking it, are you?” She asked quietly after the silence stretched, but Michael knew it was more of a statement and that she didn’t need an answer.

He still gave it to her, “I don’t think so, no.” He shook his head.

When he raised his eyes, he expected to see Silex’s disappointed face, but she only looked worried.

“You want to talk why?”

“I just…” He trailed off, taking a big gulp of air before releasing it, pinching the bridge of his nose before he looked back into Silex’s eyes. “I don’t… love it, Sil. Not anymore.”

“ _‘It’_ as in… working here?”

Michael shook his head no again, forcing out, finally, “ _‘It’_ as in Animation.”

“Oh.” Silex whispered.

He felt so relieved that he had finally told her. It felt like he had been carrying that in his heart for so long, almost like he was lying to Silex every day while he worked there, always cracking jokes and such. Never saying anything about it. And now that it was out in the open he felt like a really big part of what had been weighing down had just… evaporated. There was still the worry about what the hell he was supposed to do with his life after this, but at least he wasn’t torn trying to decide. Telling Silex he wasn’t taking it was the final push he needed. He had said it out loud, he wasn’t taking the offer. And that felt… kind of good.

But Silex wasn’t saying anything, her eyes fixed on the floor between their armchairs, like hearing Michael say that had cause a short-circuit in her brain. She had this look on her face that Michael didn’t really know how to place, and she wasn’t really talking, so Michael started talking for both of them, filling up the silence that was making him feel uncomfortable as it stretched.

“The past few months have been wonderful and you’re a great teacher.” He assured her. “And I’m so _glad_ I met you because Ashton is too square headed at times and I really needed another friend that wouldn’t make me want to bang my head against a wall so many times, but…” He stopped, swallowing and taking a big breath before letting out, “I just lost _it_ , Sil.” He knew his voice sounded pitiful, but he let himself off the hook this time. He didn’t think Silex would comment on it. “I can’t watch an animated movie, it physically makes me sick. Nauseated and shit.” He confessed in a low voice. “Can you believe that? I used to spent entire days not getting out of my room, just marathoning animes and shit. And now it’s been almost a year since I last saw anything in 2D or 3D animation.” Michael finished, a little out of breath.

Silex still had a sort of stunted expression on her face that made Michael feel the need to continue pouring his thoughts out, as if now that he had started, he couldn’t really shut up.

“I really used to love coding and animating at the beginning of the masters, I even enjoyed the first couple of months here, but now it’s all just…” He moved his hands around him, trying to portray the agitation it generated in him. “It _kills_ me, knowing that I have to come here every day to work on something that doesn’t fulfill me _at all_. Luke actually said that was why I shouldn’t accept, that if I didn’t have any passion for this anymore, I would never be able to get better and I would just get stuck. And you know what? I do think he’s right. He’s _right_.”

Now Silex’ eyes has just widened, but she wasn’t speaking yet, and Michael didn’t know what else to do. He just knew he was beginning to feel something like a knot forming in his throat, his eyes prickling with unshed tears.

“Please, say something, Sil.” He continued, leaning towards her. “Ashton said I should have come to you more than a month ago, talked to you about me losing motivation, that you would be able to help, but I just didn’t want to throw this on you. I felt like I would be letting you down or something, that you would be disappointed in me because you’ve always said I have potential for this field. And I didn’t know what to do. But I think Luke’s right, and I think I shouldn’t take the offer.” He finished in a rush. Adding a quiet, “Sorry.” as his eyes trained on the floor in front of him.   
Michael felt his cheeks filling with colour, suddenly realising _everything_ that had just come out of his mouth. Oh fuck, he had gone from barely being able to talk to Silex to just spitting everything out. Like _everything_. Only his feelings about Luke were missing from that sudden confession and that would have just been the ice on the cake.

Wait.

His feelings for Luke.

 _Feelings_.

He had feelings for Luke.

He had real, actual feelings for Luke.

Way more than just a _crush_.

“... Oh my god, I have feelings for Luke.” He said out loud, his eyes widening up. “ _Oh my god_.”

His heart was suddenly beating a million miles an hour, his breath suddenly speeding up as he stared at the ground, the realisation that what he felt for Luke wasn’t just a crush, that it was way more than that. That every time Luke managed to make him smile, that meant something to him. That his words meant something. Oh shit. Michael should’ve known, he should have known he was falling for this guy. He should’ve stopped himself. He should never have kept answering, it wasn’t good. He wasn’t good for anyone, least of all Luke. Michael didn’t want to just bring someone on to his mess, his life, his state of _mind_. Michael had already kind of dragged Ashton there and it wasn’t pretty. It didn’t make him feel great, watching Ashton’s worried eyes looking at him every time he went on a carving spree, every time he woke up to find Michael awake and with barely any sleep in him. He couldn’t bring anyone else into that. He wouldn’t bring _Luke_.

Because Luke was just too good, wasn’t he? Too precious, too nice, to–

“Michael, _breathe_.” Silex cut into his thoughts, Michael suddenly feeling her hand squeezing his knee, grounding him as he turned to look at her, his own eyes still widened. Hers were kind when she started talking, “I know you being a robot you aren’t too used to feeling stuff for people, but I guarantee you it’s totally normal for _humans_.”

“Fuck you.” Michael forced out, feeling incredibly dizzy as he tried to control his breathing. Her eyes could be kind, but they didn’t exactly match up with her words.

“I’m serious. Maybe it’s even a good thing for you, you know?” Silex said after a bit, nudging his knee. “I wondered what would come out of those notes you kept leaving for each other. It was really cute to watch from the sidelines.” She mused out loud, chuckled lightly, then turned to him again, “You going to tell Luke about it?”

“I just blurted out a bunch of other much more _important_ stuff and that’s the thing you choose to focus on? Luke?”

Silex snorted, covering her mouth as she laughed loudly before she said, “Mike, the talk about your career and the offer weren’t the things that made you _spiral_.”

“They don’t help.” Michael grunted.

“Did you really think you would let me down just because you’re not into it anymore?” Silex asked after a beat, voice much gentler. Michael turned to face her again, biting his lip as he waited for her to continue. “Have a bit more faith in me, dude. We’re _friends_ , aren’t we?”

It made Michael smile slightly, shaking his head as he rubbed his face bashfully. “That’s what Ashton said.”

“Ashton’s a smart guy.”

“When he wants to.” Michael conceded with a grunt.

He looked around the room, the blank screen reminding him of all the projections he had witnessed here, the way people had welcomed him, taught him stuff, helped him along the way. And now he would just be throwing all that off the board. And he didn’t even know for _what_ yet.

“Mike, you could have come to me about it.” Silex said after a couple of minutes of silence. “I don’t think I would have been able to help with motivation, because I believe it’s bigger than that for you. But we could have talked, you know?”

It made Michael feel better and worse, the way she talked. Because Ashton was right, he didn’t open up to people often, and he had with Silex. Michael should’ve known she was there for him to rely on. But it also made him feel incredibly worse, knowing yet another person was caught up in this mess, because it had to be, with the way everyone kept looking at him worriedly. Still, he forced himself to ask the things he needed advice on. Silex was a friend, yeah, but Michael admired her work ethic and professionalism for far longer than they had been close friends, and he felt like he needed that guidance from her. For someone to assure him he wasn’t fucking up.

“So you don’t think it’s a bad decision? Rejecting the offer?” He said quietly, breathing deep and focusing his eyes back on his shoes.

“No, I think it was good for _you_.” Michael could tell by her voice that she was really thinking this through. He was grateful. “I think what Luke told you was correct. Even when you have talent, you wouldn’t evolve here.” Michael curtly nodded at that, bringing his hands together and squeezing them close, eyes still focused on the ground in front of him. “And even when I’m going to miss your mug here –and your coding skills–, I think your future lies best elsewhere.” She finished. Her voice even wavered at the end which made Michael extra emotional.

“I…” He started, voice catching in his throat enough that he had to cough a couple of times. He raised his gaze to find Silex smiling kindly at him. “I don’t know what to say, Sil.”

“Awww, I made you speechless?” She teased, but Michael could tell it was all in good fun. Her eyes weren’t exactly dry either.

“Shut up.” He said anyway, brushing away the couple of fallen tears on his right shoulder, scrunching his face right afterwards.

“So…” The tone of her voice made Michael look back to her, squinting. “What are you going to do about these feelings you have for Luke?”

 

* * *

 

Michael came out of his shift feeling like he had been rolled over by a bus, his whole body aching. It was almost like the stress he had been building up for weeks, for _months_ , was suddenly manifesting in his whole body in the form of tiredness and muscle pain. It made Michael think he may should have started to take care of his body. He was feeling _old_. Truthfully, he also felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders after talking to Silex. He still had to formally decline Chris’ offer, but at least the cat was out of the bag. It felt freeing.

The days were getting longer now, so it wasn’t dark when he walked out of the building. He took the long route to the car park and letting the late sun rays wash over him. Beginning to think he would have to wait for Ashton, Michael took his phone out of his pocket to check if the older had said anything. He was supposed to be at a meeting with the crew, but Michael had begun to suspect that lately that was only code for _‘on a date with Calum’_. He wasn’t mistaken.

When he reached his bike, he looked around only to find Ashton talking with a guy on the outskirts of the park. Michael watched fondly as the supposed Calum grabbed Ashton’s jacket by the lapels, bringing him closer and staring into his eyes for a moment before he leaned for a kiss. Even from where he was, Michael could see the way Ashton melted against the boy, who ended the kiss and started giggling. He was cute. Totally not what Michael had been expecting, though. From what Ashton had told him he had been expecting more of a… bubbly person, someone able to get Ashton out of his head. Someone sparkly enough to catch his attention so that he finally let go of his one rule. But Calum seemed to be just a regular bloke. Michael reserved his full reading of the guy until Ashton introduced them, though.

He watched as Ashton smiled at he guy, tugging on his hand to bring him closer again, catching his lips in yet another kiss. Michael took his eyes away after that, deciding to watch YouTube while he waited. For how happy he was to see Ashton was happy, it didn’t mean Michael needed to watch him suck face –enthusiastically– with this dude. So Michael busied himself searching for this new carving technique he wanted to try next.

About ten minutes into the vid he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He knew it was Ashton even before he turned.

“Hey, ready to go?” He smiled, and then it widened when he noticed the huge -new- lovebite on Ashton’s neck.

“Yup. Ready when you are.”

“Great.”

Michael decided to save his comment for when they were at home, two of Greg’s burgers in between them and maybe some beer too. It didn’t take long for them to reach city centre, and thankfully there wasn’t much of a queue at the dinner, so they were home less than forty-five minutes later, Michael toeing his shoes off at the entrance and going to his room to fish a sweatshirt. Even with the temperatures already getting higher, their flat remained cold as hell.

“I talked to Sil today.” He informed Ashton as he plunged down in a seat next to him on the couch, reaching for the beer Ashton had thankfully brought out for him.

“What did she say?” The older asked, taking a swig of his own before eagerly digging into his menu, going straight for the fries.

“Told me I should’ve come to her sooner.” He knew Ashton would immediately take a chance to smirk at him, so he added quickly. “No need to be smug about being right.”

“Oh, let me.” Ashton complained before exploding into giggles.

Michael rolled his eyes at him, deciding it was as good a time as any to attack. “By the way, nice hickey.” Michael winked at him, smirking from ear to ear. “And you denied having a crush on him for weeks. I can’t believe this.” He snorted. But Ashton’s own giggles from before had faded to nothing and his mouth had a downturn that Michael didn’t like. “Wait. Your face says there’s something wrong. What is it?”

Ashton whined, leaving his beer on the coffee table and letting himself fall against the back of the couch, closing his eyes. “I’m just…” He trailed off, then opened his eyes to look at Michael. “I’m not used to it, you know?”

“Used to having someone you can get off _with_ instead of _to_?”

“Fuck you, Michael.” His face was stony, eyes hardened, so Michael backtracked a little. Maybe trying a different approach would be best. Ashton indeed seemed like he was worrying about it hard, and the last thing Michael wanted was make it worse.

“Look, I get it’s different, but I’m sure it’s not a _bad_ different, Ash.” Michael started, getting the lay of the land. “Well, not that I’d know personally.” He added under his breath. And when he saw Ashton hadn’t outwardly reacted to neither of his comments he tried another way. “You guys looked insanely cute saying goodbye today.”

“You saw that?” Ashton mumbled, getting fully red.

“I was literally standing with the bike not five meters away, you idiot.”

“Oh. True.” Ashton nodded, but his eyes weren’t in the room. He looked like he was stuck inside his mind, mulling over whatever was making him worry. “I don’t know, Michael.” He said after a beat. “It’s not normal that I feel suffocated when it’s not even been a week.”

 _Oh_. Well. That was to be expected after Ashton having never had someone in his life like that. He just wasn’t used to it, right? Or maybe...

“Is he too clingy?”

“No.”

“Too jealous?”

“No.” Ashton shook his head, sighing. “Like he’s _the same_. We’re the _exact same_. As before.”

Michael was confused. If nothing had changed and before Ashton wasn’t feeling ‘suffocated’, what the hell was happening?

“I don’t follow.” He said out loud, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, face cupped by his hands.

“I think…” Ashton trailed off. Then he took a swig of the beer, swallowing loudly before he sighed again. “It’s just the word _relationship_ that’s hanging over my head.” He mumbled. “Like it implies sharing _everything_.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.” Michael contradicted him from his very little perspective on the subject. He understood it was a change in Ashton’s way of living, mostly because they were very similar and Michael understood not letting people in easily. It was a miracle, really, that they had been able to become as close as they had when both of them were so fucking introverted. “Have you even talked about this with him?”

“ _No_.” Ashton said bashful. “I don’t want him thinking I’m a freak. I _do_ like him, you know.” He mumbled, his cheeks red.

“Then what do you want?” Michael frowned.

Ashton took a deep swig of the beer, frowning himself with his eyes fixed on a point on the floor. “I don’t know.” He recognised.

Michael couldn’t help but scoff. “You’re just being stupid. You have a real connexion with another human being and you’re scared of opening up.”

Ashton just stared at him intently for a few seconds, one eyebrow arched in a way that Michael knew exactly what he wanted to convey.

“It’s not the same.” He protested. “I don’t _know_ Luke.”

“Because you don’t _want_ to meet him.” Ashton groaned, rubbing his face exasperated. “Luke has wanted to meet you probably since the first time you wrote back.”

“He’s never said anything, though.” Michael mumbled, his time now to stare at the floor.

“Is that what it would take for you to finally agree to meet him?” Ashton asked. “Him saying it? Because I can call him. Right now.”

“No!” Michael rushed. “Please don’t. Ash.”

“I wasn’t actually _going_ to.” Ashton frowned at him. “I just don’t understand why you won’t meet him.”

“He’s too nice.”

“That’s the stupidest fucking thing you’ve ever uttered.”

“May be, but it’s the truth.” Michael grunted. Luke was too good for him, too bright a light for him to bring down with his spiralling thoughts and generally emo attitude. Besides, “He hasn’t said anything to me about finding out you and me were friends. That’s… Someone else would have gotten mad, rightly so.”

“He just thinks you already have a lot on your plate.”

“Which is exactly why I can’t meet him.”

“ _Michael._ “ Ashton’s tone was as exasperated as Michael had ever heard him, and it was just awfully hypocritical of him to be like this.

“No, if you’re not figuring your stuff out, why should I?” He snapped. “This Calum guy sounds _awesome_ from the way you describe him, the way you talk about him. He’s the only person who has gotten you to break your no romantic or sexual partner rule. That has to have a reason.”

“Yeah, that I _like_ him.” Ashton insisted, leaving the bottle of beer forcefully on the table.

“Then what the fuck is your brain holding up on for you to want to fuck it up?”

“Could say the exact same to you.” Ashton scoffed, turning to face him again. “You’re not damaged goods, Mike. You don’t need to keep yourself off the game just because you think you’re not good for another person. Because you _are_ good.”

Michael intended to refute him, but as he opened his mouth to do so, the meaning of Ashton’s words sank into his brain, making him just stare at him stupidly with his mouth hanging open.

“You’re not bad for anyone, Michael.” Ashton repeated. “And I get being scared of letting other people in, you fucking know that _I_ get that.” He laughed, but it was humourless. “Just because you’re a little lost on your life right now doesn’t mean you’re dragging someone down with you. None of us know shit about life.” He finished, rubbing his face with both hands and groaning. “Besides, Luke’s into you. Like legit. And he’s a great lad and I really think you should meet him properly. You don’t have to deny yourself anything just because you feel you’ve fucked up your future. You’re not in need of punishment for anything.”

Michael finally got to close his mouth, swallowing slowly. His eyes never left Ashton’s, even when the older looked away for a moment, probably embarrassed by the whole speech he had just blurted out. It were a few tense seconds before Michael opened his mouth again.

“I thought you weren’t that good at reading me.” He frowned. “I thought no one was.”

“I live with you, shithead.” Ashton scoffed, rolling his eyes. “And anyone who knows you a little knows literally how your brain works. It’s not a difficult language to learn.”

“Gee, thanks for telling me I’m predictable.”

“I didn’t say predictable, I said easy to read.”

“Even worse.” Michael snorted.

It made him feel better when he saw Ashton had cracked a smile too at it.

“Didn’t think you cared that much.” Michael said after a beat.

“Dude, you don’t sleep, you’re always with these huge eye bags and the slouched shoulders and stuff.” Ashton said. “I have a right to be worried, I’m your friend.” He added quietly.

“You’re going to make me emotional.” Michael said jokingly, but as he said so, he felt his eyes starting to prickle with tears.

“Like seriously, Mike. It’s alright you don’t know what you want to do with your life. You can dedicate your life to carving for all I care.” Ashton chuckled, shaking his head and leaning forward to clap Michael’s knee a couple of times. “I’m just telling you you shouldn’t pass up on meeting a great bloke just because you think you don’t deserve it.”

“You’re too nice to me.” Michael rolled his eyes.

“ _Mike_.”

“Okay, _okay._ I’ll meet him.” He agreed, and when he saw Ashton’s eyes widen he added, “If he asks. And you can’t tell him to.”

“You’re the worst.”

 

* * *

 

“So, see you tomorrow?” Calum asked, his hand clutching the straps of his bag as he hung weirdly at his doorstep.

“Um.” Ashton said, suddenly caught off guard.

Yeah. It was probably time they had a real date. After all, what they were doing was _dating,_ right? Calum was presumably expecting a real date come the weekend. Hanging out, maybe dinner. Thing was, Ashton hadn’t exactly come to terms with the two of them being… Well. _Dating_.

“It’s okay.” Calum smiled, but Ashton could feel the awkwardness radiating off of him and it made him feel bad.

“It’s just, I haven’t hung out with Mike lately and we were going to–”

“No need to explain, mate.” Calum shook his head, his smile still present. His hands were gripping the strap tighter, though. Knuckles were almost white.

“We can meet up Sunday?” Ashton suggested, and the moment he said so he could feel this cloud hanging over himself. He really liked Calum, but this relationship thing was making Ashton feel like he needed to ran away as fast as possible. And he hated himself for it, because Ashton could see how his hesitance over everything was making the light in Calum’s eyes dim again. He hated to be the cause of that.

“No, it’s okay.” Calum assured him again. “I just remembered I have an assignment due next Tuesday. I better use the weekend for that.”

“Oh. Okay.” Ashton frowned. That was weird, Calum had been boasting just yesterday that he had two weeks free of school work before he had to truly focus on turning in the last assignments to finish the year. “So next week, then.”

“Yeah. We have the meeting next Thursday, anyway.” Calum said. Then he bit his lip, obviously hesitant on what to do next. “Have a good weekend.” He decided in the end, and somehow that made it feel like there were needles sticking themselves in Ashton’s chest. Calum’s face softened somewhat as he added,  “Thanks for dropping me off.”

“My pleasure.” Ashton said almost on automatic, his thoughts still doing rounds around Calum’s sudden change of behaviour.

Then he shook himself out of it, reaching for Calum’s hand before he was out of reach and stopping him, closing the distance between them for a kiss. It didn’t last long, Calum pulling away far too quickly and leaving him hanging there.

“See you, Ash.”

And then he was gone.

It felt like only seconds that Ashton stood there, staring at the door that had closed behind Calum and trying to process what had just happened. But as he looked at his phone again, he realised it had been quite a few minutes. And he couldn’t register what had just happened.

The day had gone great, news of the contest reaching them via Kev on their weekly meeting. They had even decided to celebrate, going out for drinks as a team. There had been a weird karaoke moment there that Ashton had been forced to participate in, but he had enjoyed himself. Enjoyed Calum stealing glances at him every time he could, the casual touches, _dancing_ with him. Damn, it had _been_ a great night.

Ashton had offered to walk Calum home because for once the younger had drunk more than him and he somehow felt responsible for his safety. Calum had stopped him halfway over and pressed him into the wall of an alley, stealing the breath off of his lungs and making Ashton wish they were back at some private place. But Calum was way too tipsy for that, so Ashton had enjoyed the make out and then insisted on finishing the way up to the younger’s front door.

And then everything had gone to shit.

The moment Calum had mentioned meeting up the next day Ashton had felt a pressure on his chest that had sat unwell, foreign and unpleasant. Then Calum’s eyes had closed off and his behaviour had grown cold enough for Ashton to forget how warm and affectionate he had been just minutes prior to it, which had made him feel even worse, seeing the light going off of them like a candle when he had put up excuses not to meet.

This whole thing was twisted, and Ashton kind of wished he had never decided to verbalise his attraction to Calum. Ashton had known it would end up like this, him enjoying Calum’s company for a while and later feeling so pressured to be open that he ended up avoiding him. And he liked Calum too much to want to make him feel like Ashton knew he was making him feel. He just couldn’t do anything else. It had just been a bad decision on his part that day at McDonald’s, even when he had been dreaming of kissing Calum for weeks.

With a sigh, he took one last look at the door that had closed behind Calum and started walking back home, his mind still back at the doorstep.

 

* * *

 

“Wow, are you okay?” Luke asked first thing Friday morning when Ashton left his bag on the desk and promptly threw himself on it.

“Please don’t ask.” Ashton mumbled.

After he dropped Calum off he had wandered aimlessly for an hour before heading home, and when he got home, sleep hadn’t come easy to him. And he didn’t want to reignite the million thoughts running on the background of his brain non-stop. He needed work, and he needed distractions.

“Okay, I won’t.” Luke said hesitantly.

“Has Silex come in yet?”

“Yeah, but she’s off on a meeting, you can sleep a bit if you want, I’ll wake you.”

“Thanks, Luke. You’re a good guy.” Ashton smiled, looking up at him and then settling down on the desk again.

It almost felt like no time at all until he felt Luke softly shaking him awake, his eyes concerned. Ashton just smiled at him and got to work.

They weirdly spent the morning in silence, Luke not even trying to talk to him, and most weird of all, not even stealing glances at him over his screen. Ashton _did_ look at him, though. Because the younger was sighing a lot, and he was starting to look distressed. So after another hour of trying to push through his own assignments, he turned off his screen and slid his chair over to Luke’s side of the desk where the blonde was staring straight through the screen with a playblast playing on a loop.

“Hey, you need help?” Ashton nudged him, pointing to the screens with his head.

“I just don’t know how I can finish this shit before two weeks’ time when I have to turn it in.” Luke groaned, letting his head fall against the table and knocking it repeatedly.

“Can’t you ask Silex? She helped the last time.”

“Yeah, but I’m supposed to do this on my own. Like before it was just a problem of a wrong step taken. Now it’s just that I miscalculated the time it would take to finish this properly.”

Ashton hummed. He could offer himself to help Luke finish, but having seeing Luke’s work and the things he turned in, Ashton knew his level –at least in 3D– was way lower than Luke’s. So he’d probably be just in his way.

Then a thought popped in his brain.

“Ask Michael.” He blurted out. Technically he wasn’t telling Luke to write Michael to _meet_ him. So it could apply to Michael’s terms and also help Luke. It was _brilliant._ “He can help you, ask him.”

Except–

“No. I won’t do that. He's gone through too much already. I'm not going to take the little breather he's gotten after declining Chris' offer and make it worse by asking for his help.” Luke shook his head immediately. “Believe me, Ash, I want to meet him. But it won’t be this way. Me begging for help because I’m incompetent.” Luke sentenced.

“You’re not incompetent.” Ashton protested. And then he realised. “Wait. You _do_ want to meet him?” Ashton widened his eyes, swivelling Luke’s chair so they were facing each other.

“Of course I do.” Luke mumbled quickly, heat rising in his cheeks and making Ashton grin at him. “I just don’t think _he_ wants to meet me.” Luke added, biting his lip.

“He _does_. He just won't take the first step.” Ashton groaned. Again, it wasn’t telling Luke he should ask Michael to meet. He was just stating a fact, right? “Oh, come on. You both need this.”

“I have _work_ to do. I can’t get distracted.” Luke stressed, pointing to his screens, the loop still playing.

Ashton sighed, rolling his eyes and resting his face in his hands as he followed the direction of Luke’s gaze, once again fixed on the loop. Ashton could guess the amount of work that Luke had ahead of himself only by watching the scene playing. Maybe if Luke was working full time… But working part time and not being able to take the material out of the studio to work at home, Luke would have it difficult.

Still, Ashton insisted. He believed an outing could help the younger, and why couldn’t that outing be meeting Michael? Finally?

“You know, brains work best when they have a rest. Like they reset.” Ashton stated casually.

Luke turned to look at him with narrow eyes, as if he was evaluating him. Ashton could see the beginnings of an answer forming behind Luke’s eyes, but he couldn’t exactly make a guess about which direction it would go.

“Then I bet your brain’s enough rested so you can get back to your own work.” Luke finally said, pushing his chair gently away. Then he giggled a bit when Ashton stayed staring at him with his mouth wide open.

“That was _low_.” He protested jokingly. “But also true.” He chuckled, shaking his head and sliding back the rest of the way towards his side of the desk.

Luke just smirked calmly at him, way too smug for some reason that Ashton couldn’t quite catch. It annoyed him.

“You staying for lunch?” Luke asked, his smirk dissolving quickly into a kind smile. “Calum said you couldn’t, but I–”

“Yeah, no. Have to go back home.” Ashton cut him. “Have… stuff to do.”

“Okay.” Luke nodded. It looked like he was going to be focusing again on his work, because he stared down and flipped a couple of pages of his notes, Ashton hearing the clicks of his mouse and the keyboard. But then Luke was looking up again and fixing him a serious stare. “You know, _things_ get better when you talk them through with people.”

“I know, Luke.” Ashton sighed.

He just didn’t think he was particularly up to talking.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, no Calum time today?” Michael greeted Ashton as the older came through the door, it closing behind him in a loud thunk.

“No.”

His tone, plus the bang, made Michael look up, catching just a hint of Ashton’s sullen face before the older turned away from his eyes, toeing his boots off and leaving his jacket on the coat hanger by the door.

“Okay.” Michael muttered. Clearly, something was up with him. “You up for a documentary or something?” He suggested. That always got Ashton excited.

“Whatever you want, Mike.” He said. Michael frowned, beginning to be worried for real. “I’m seriously exhausted, don’t care what you put on.” Ashton added as he padded his way to the couch, letting himself fall face first against it and then crawling his way to a corner, folding himself in like he was a little kid.

Michael observed him for another ten seconds before he centred his attention again to what he had been doing prior Ashton’s arrival.

He had found a pretty good deal on carving timber online the week before, and the little cubes he had ordered had arrived finally after lunch. Michael had been excited to get to work on them the second he opened the package, but he hadn’t known what to carve, so he had spent the following hours lazing around Pinterest and Instagram, nothing really catching his eye. Michael had just sat down to get to work, deciding he could just start and something would come along, when Ashton had come through their front door.

“That’s new.” Ashton said, pointing to the wood cube he had just begun carving. “Where did you get that?”

“Surprisingly, Amazon.” Michael chuckled.

It made Ashton smile a bit, the corner of his lips turning up just so. “Cool.” Then he bit his lip, looking hesitant for a moment and opening his mouth as if to say something, only to close it again. Michael frowned at him, and Ashton finally blurted out, “What are you going to carve?”

Michael squinted even harder at him. It was obvious that that hadn’t been what Ashton had been reluctant to bring up, but given that the older looked like he could really use an outing, his eyes pleading with Michael’s, Michael decided to engage him. “Don’t really know yet. Just going with the flow, I guess.”

Ashton nodded, reaching for a couple of cushions and making himself a makeshift pillow, shrinking against the sofa and folding his knees even higher, closer to himself.

“Are you free tomorrow?” He asked, surprising Michael.

“Yeah.”

“Will you help me with some stuff for class?” Ashton asked. But there was something wrong with his voice, like it was catching in his throat, not coming all the way out. “Like feedback. I don’t want Eli to fail me because he thinks my animation is not ‘interesting’ enough.”

“Sure, I can take a look.” Michael smiled.

“Thanks, Mike.”  Ashton said, a tired smile on his lips.

“No worries.” He answered, and when Ashton turned his head to face the tv, Michael went back to his own devices, his eyes fixed on the cube as he did a clean cut in one of the corners.

By the time he looked back up he realised what he had believed to be just Ashton’s loud breathing were his soft snores, the older one having fallen asleep snuggled into a side of the couch, his glasses askew on his face and his arms hugging himself.  

Michael was worried about him. Ashton hadn’t been acting normal since Thursday night when he came back from one of his outings with the team, and the lack of ‘Calum time’ indicated that there was most probably something wrong there. And Michael wasn’t sure which party had been the cause.

Could have been Ashton. Like, the older had confessed at the beginning of the week that he feared the pressure would make him fuck it up somehow with Calum. It was probably that. Or, it could have been the other boy. Michael had yet to meet him in person, but by the way Ashton talked about him, he would bet it hadn’t been him.

And it made sense, the way Ashton was acting. He was retreating into himself. Which made a whole lot of sense if he believed he had been the one guilty of whatever had happened between him and his… boyfriend? Michael didn’t even think they had a term for what they were to each other.

His eyes focused back on the wood cube, slowly taking a more rounded form, almost oval-like. There was an idea prickling at the back of his mind for what it could become, but Michael couldn’t yet see it clearly, so he left his tools back on the table, shivering a little as he moved around and noticed the slight cool current coming from the hallway. There had to be a window open, because it was unusual for the flat to be this cold this time of the year, the summer being so close.

With a sigh he got up to investigate, not without first stopping by the sleeping Ashton to throw a blanket over him that the older clutched tightly as soon as Michael tucked it near his hands. He turned the TV off, too. After all, he doubted Ashton would mind, and Michael was going to head to bed in hopes of catching up on some sleep. For the first time in a long time, he was sleepy at a normal, appropriate time, and he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

The offending window was the bathroom’s. Michael chastised himself, remembering it had been him the one who left it open after his shower, and hurried to close it down.

His bed was so comfy as he climbed in that he felt like crying. It was always like that whenever he had a tired day. And he didn’t know exactly why he was so tired, because there had been no Hourglass shift that afternoon for him, only two hours of class in the morning and then a bit of lazing around on his phone after lunch when he got home. But the fact was that his back hurt like hell, and the mattress against his back made him sigh in contentment as he snuggled in.

For a weird moment, his brain entertained the idea of having Luke there. Which was a scary thought in itself, but what made it worst was that it hadn’t been even sexual. He had just thought about Luke being there so he could talk to him in person, discuss their idiot friends and what they were doing to each other. Maybe cuddle in to sleep. Michael would be little spoon, and it would feel nice and safe and it would be _good_.

But he hadn’t met Luke, didn’t know what he looked like. Didn’t know if he wanted to know what he looked like, because that implied every other scenario running through his mind could eventually become true, and Michael wasn’t sure it would be the best course of action. Case in point, Ashton with Calum. If Ashton was having trouble adapting himself to a relationship, Michael thought his case would be even harder, because he hadn’t even established a normal friendship with Luke. It had all been through notes and letters.

Michael didn’t know if reality would be just as good, because how could it? As things were right then, Michael could still guard his heart, protect it at least a bit from the weather. He could control when he answered, and he could control the frequency of their talks. The tone of the letters probably never reflected real life moods. But Michael imagined being with someone would be vastly different. He wouldn’t be able to hide for days at a time, it wouldn’t be fair to the other person. To _Luke_ -his brain made the distinction-.

It was even scarier, thinking about opening that part of himself to others, and he suddenly realised why Ashton was terrified. As different as they were in other aspects, here they were of a same mind. Michael knew he had branded him stupid just for that, but he also believed Ashton was much stronger than him. Ashton would be able to fight through that, because the way his eyes lit up whenever he talked about Calum? Michael knew Ashton would push through anything. But him… Michael didn’t think he would be so brave. It had already cost him like three months to make the decision to give up a secure and steady paycheck even when he knew he would end up embittered if he took it.

He didn’t want to think about it anymore, though. For once he was yawning, and his eyes dropping, and he wouldn’t let the thoughts keep him up awake like countless other nights. So he threw all the thoughts in a box and labelled it ‘to be sorted out’ and snuggled in deeper, closing his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Weekend passed by scaringly fast between helping out Ashton and focusing on his own reel, which he had neglected for the past weeks. One thing was knowing he didn’t want to work in the field after finishing his master’s, another one was flunking out said (expensive) master’s just because of that. Michael still needed to pass the course.

Ashton didn’t speak more than 50 words out loud throughout the weekend. Yeah. Michael had counted. His thoughts seemed to be even more inward driven than they had during Friday, and Michael could do next to nothing to make him come out, except helping him on his reel with feedback. And even then, his only answers were ‘thanks’ and ‘I’ll fix that’. Michael wished he knew how to get through to him.

As such, they didn’t even cross each other’s paths on Monday before he clocked in for his shift at Hourglass, Ashton texting him he had gone straight home on the bus instead of waiting to have lunch with him on campus like they had agreed that morning. Michael’s own mood was fluctuating between meh and awful as he pushed through the doors of the studio, nearly knocking himself against a new glass door to their office they had installed just the week prior. Even Silex seemed to be in a crappy mood as Michael walked past her, only offering him a curt nod as she glared at her screen before knocking on it in anger and frustration.

 _Great_.

He slumped down on his chair, turning the screen of the computer on and wincing when he saw Luke had left his session open. His hand hovered over the mouse for a few seconds, an intrusive thought about the boy maybe having logged into some kind of social media that Michael could stalk -in a non-stalker ish way- making his way in big bright letter into his brain. But no, Michael wouldn’t do that. It took him another three minutes to close Luke’s session and click on his, punching in his credentials. And then his eyes fell onto the pile of notes under the screen, one in particular catching his eye. It was a new one.

Michael eyed it distrustfully as he rocked back a bit on his chair, biting his lip. His fingers itched to reach for it, but it was in black paper, shaped like a bat. Because of that, Michael knew it had to be different somehow, and that scared him. Why would have Luke put more effort into this one than other ones?

He finally reached for it, suddenly his heart on his throat like his body knew what it was going to say before he read it, and took a deep breath before he turned it in his hand, his eyes fixed on Luke’s chicken scrawl. It was way shorter than usual. Michael’s heart throbbed in his chest.

 

 

_Hey Batman, I’m Luke. Well, you already know that after months of talking to me I guess haha. I’m shit at this, please excuse whatever might come out of my mouth hand next._

_This is awkward, but… Do you maybe want to meet? I’d really love to finally talk face to face, you know. Say “Hi, I’m Luke.” like, for real? I feel like you’ve become such an important part of my life, and we still haven’t even met. Here’s my number, if you want to talk to me ^^ XXXXXXXXXX_

_I would completely understand if you don’t, though. No worries at all._

_L._

 

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry this took so long. I got real busy with schoolwork for uni and I just couldn't work on this as much as I wanted. Also, it's becoming really hard for me to work on this one, the words just don't seem to flow. But I have my plan and outline, and I promise this will get finished.   
> Again, really sorry for the time this took.  
> Hope you enjoyed it! Drop me a line if you feel like it :3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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